Motivation
by Durandall
Summary: Kakashi made a mistake.  Shikamaru is smart.  Shino is skilled.  Naruto is strong.  Maybe something amazing could happen, with the right ... motivation.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: A few extrapolations on the idea of how Naruto receives the information from his bunshin when they disperse, and an accidental overreaction from Kakashi. My goal is to write a story where Shikamaru acts to his potential, because I think he's awesome, Shino gets to be badass, because he is badass, and Naruto pays a little more attention, because he has the right...

* * *

Motivation Chapter One

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

Note: A bit of an AU, insofar as the backgrounds of the three primary protagonists, and probably on Kakashi's part, too.

* * *

There was a vantage on the Hokage monument, where one could rest atop the space theoretically set aside for the godaime, and see the yondaime's face in profile - beneath the stern visage of his predecessor ... and successor. In line with them was the academy, and past that eventually the wall.

Further, much harder to see without a ninja-trained eye, one would find the clearing where Hatake Kakashi had just had an unexpected and unpleasant encounter, that being the reason he sat atop the mountainous ridge that bordered one side of Konoha. He sighed moodily at the yondaime's face in profile. He knew he was sentimental, at times, given his propensity to brood while staring at the memorial stone or other things, but he was still a ninja.

Knowing that his teacher wasn't truly able to hear him, he didn't utter a word of the thoughts he wanted to share with his mentor.

'Your son will be a strong ninja.'

That was true, beyond a doubt. The boy had power, unquestionably.

'My first proper meeting with your son was me punching him out.'

Unfortunately, that part was true, too.

He pulled his book from his pocket, flipping to the prologue and trying to lose himself in the text, which he'd read many times before. He hadn't finished it yet. He kept stopping at page twelve, right when Akito finished thinking about his surroundings and should have gotten to the point of the story.

This attempt didn't even get past the first page. How could he try and set things right, after that? He'd actually somewhat hoped for a chance to train the boy - the chance to pay back some of what he owed to his teacher... And undoubtedly, Naruto was going to receive a merit promotion, after that.

But, damn it all, he'd reacted on impulse, not properly thinking things through! He was former ANBU! He'd actually known about Naruto's situation all along, and what had he done?

He forced his eye to the text once more. "There is a place in the mountains," he began, before another fit of self-disgust prompted him to react without thinking.

He flung his book away from himself, into the night sky over Konoha.

'Shit,' he thought dully, watching it soar away, arcing out a respectable - ninja-flung - distance, vanishing between a row of apartment buildings below, halfway across Konoha. That was going to haunt him, and now he didn't have any kind of meditation focus at all.

Maybe he could find Gai, pick a fight ... the annoying loudmouth was reliable for that much, at least.

His restless attempts at thinking were interrupted when he detected a kunoichi bounding up the cliff-side below him, telltale orange book cover in one hand. He resigned himself to the inevitable apology he'd need to use, and forced himself to calm.

He did allow a small blink of surprise when Mitarashi Anko topped the rise and gave him a stern look, one eyebrow raised as she tossed the book in the air lightly, then caught it, saying nothing.

"My apologies," he said, rising to his feet and sweeping her a polite bow, putting a smile on his face behind his mask. "I was so excited, the text simply _leapt_ from my hands!"

"I'm sure," she retorted. "Is this your idea of how to meet women?"

He gave a false, rueful chuckle, then scratched the back of his head nervously. "Maybe I've happily stumbled across a secret technique?"

She stared at him with a particularly piercing, amused stare, her pupil-less eyes boring into him, making him wonder uncomfortably how deeply into him she saw.

"Hmm," she mused, tucking the book into her jacket. "Tell you what. Come down to my apartment, and I'll show you something more interesting than silly stories, huh?"

He stared at her in real surprise, then covered with another nervous laugh. What an unsettling woman ... no wonder she had been made a special jounin. "Oh, no that won't-"

"I didn't really make that a choice, did I?" she asked, raising her other eyebrow, her grin suddenly becoming much more predatory. "I have this _thing_, you see, about people chucking _books_ at my _head_ when I'm going home after the day's over. So you can either come with me to my apartment, or..."

Kakashi was not amused. He kept his expression genial and prompted, "Or?" after the woman trailed off, managing to sound innocently curious.

"Or I'll tell Gai you're so distraught, you are doubting your worth as his rival," she determined. "I can see you're in a funk over some shit you're not going to talk about, so since neither of us get our favorite vice, and because - as mentioned before, you _chucked_ a _book_ at my _head_ - we're going to settle for a lesser vice for _both_ of us."

Damn it. That cold hearted bitch... This was not what he wanted right now.

"You can keep your mask on, and you don't have to listen about why _I'm_ pissed," she added, giving him a flat stare, hands on her hips, her jacket flaring wide and revealing most of her figure to him.

"I think you already mentioned something about a book and your head, but I'll admit, I can't quite recall the connection at the moment ... maybe if it had been mentioned more?"

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug, turning around, marching back down the cliff. "I'm sure Gai's up at this hour..."

God damn it! That same low blow! Wasn't she supposed to show creativity by searching for some other weak point to use against him?

"Well ... you'll give me my book back afterwards, won't you?" he asked lightly.

"Good boy," she said in answer, briskly leading the way down the cliff.

"I'll let you get away with this once," he protested half-heartedly.

"If you throwing books at my head becomes a regular occurrence, I'll stick you like a pig and suck you dry," she said so absently, Kakashi wondered if she even realized she'd said it.

God _damn_ it.

* * *

Shikamaru liked sitting near the front of the class, since it automatically suggested that he was eager to learn, and likely an apt student. His true hope was that it would mean he would be assumed to be knowledgeable and capable, and thus be overlooked when the teacher called someone out. If he could just ... sort of coast by until he'd had a fair number of C rank - or maybe even B rank missions under his belt, then he'd be fine.

Until then, he knew that the vast majority of what he had to look forward to once he was assigned his jounin and teammates - and given what his father said, he had _no_ doubt over who his teammates were supposed to be - was busywork and protocol training. That's most of what D ranked missions were about. Being taught how to go through the motions of checking in with the Hokage, following mission plans, demonstrating capability and teamwork...

He just didn't want to deal with the _playing_ part. Once it was time to be a ninja, he was ready. But in the training, doing good enough was all that was required.

He didn't have anything to prove, really, and that suited him just fine... After considering the graduating roster, he did wonder about the odd man out they were going to run into, though. Teams usually were in groups of three students. Since his own teammates were set, and to the best of Shikamaru's knowledge, there was only one jounin in Konoha who had a sharingan, there was really only a question of where everyone else would go.

Ostensibly, Sasuke would be under Kakashi, and then ... how to balance that team? What other kekkai genkai and special techniques could be assembled into strong teams with the remaining numbers? He amused himself putting together teams in his head, trying to imagine how the combinations would work.

It would have been easier if Naruto had passed, he thought idly, glancing at the other students in the classroom. Otherwise, one team was going to be one man short. His eyes happened to catch on the clock, and he frowned, sitting up straighter. It wasn't like Iruka to be late... Hmm, he seemed to have taken some special interest in Naruto. Perhaps he was consoling the boy for his failure?

Before he could pursue that thought, the door opened, and Naruto, the very boy in question, stumbled in, looking over his shoulder before turning his gaze forward, his gaze bleak. One hand went up and absently adjusted his headband... His hitai-ate of genin rank? But...

Well, whatever. That meant that Naruto would round out the missing man, making the teams more balanced. That was probably good. Shikamaru's gaze went immediately past the strangely subdued Naruto, to a ninja that Shikamaru wished he didn't recognize - Morino Ibiki. ANBU's best torturer and Shikamaru's father frequently met to discuss 'work', and some of those discussions had happened around him. The torturer was incredibly watchful of his tongue - just like Shikamaru's father - but never made any attempts to hide what his function was.

Why would _he_ be here?

The question was quickly given voice, Sasuke shooting Naruto a dark, skeptical look and snorting, "What's the loser doing here? This is for _graduates_."

Naruto's response, rather than to rage and snarl was to give a pointed, mildly forceful, "Fuck off."

Sasuke gave a surprised look at the response, but before he could say anything else, Ibiki cleared his throat loudly. "Take a seat, Uzumaki," he said tersely.

Naruto nodded wordlessly and retreated to a seat near the back - almost as far as Shino, but away from Sasuke.

"Naruto! You shouldn't be a jerk to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura declared, finally recovering from her shock over Naruto's behavior.

"Oh, get over it," Kiba barked, before turning to the teacher. "But, seriously - if you're a sensei, what happened to Iruka-sensei? Why _is_ Naruto here?"

"Umino Iruka will not be returning," Ibiki said simply. "I have team assignments for all but nine of you. When you are given your assignment, you are dismissed - you can return here in two days to meet with your jounin-sensei." At that, he began tersely listing team numbers and assigning students to their groups. When he was done, the nine remaining students were Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Naruto, and Shikamaru.

Turning to them, Ibiki said without preamble, "Your assignments have not yet been finalized, due to an unexpected roster change. Last night, while performing his duty to Konoha, Umino Iruka was slain in combat by a traitor to the Leaf."

The already still classroom suddenly became much more silent.

Sakura, already standing, wobbled, almost falling back to her seat, but shaking her head furiously. "W...what? H...how? What about Mizuki-sensei? Isn't he Iruka-sensei's backup?"

"He was the traitor," Naruto answered, his voice carrying despite being muffled in the crook of his arm. All eyes went to the orange-clad boy with his face hidden on his desk. "I killed him."

Before anyone could challenge the claim, the scarred torturer confirmed, "Killing a chunin-ranked enemy ninja in service to Konoha conferred a merit graduation - furthermore, Umino Iruka's last act was to confirm Uzumaki's qualification as genin, and ask that his own hitai-ate be left to him." Ibiki paused, looking at the ceiling for a moment, as though to gather his thoughts, then leveled his uncompromising gaze across the class.

"Team assignments-"

"There's a pretty obvious reason why Naruto would have known that," Sasuke interrupted, his gaze dark as he laced his fingers together beneath his chin. "The loser obviously watched Mizuki attack Iruka-sensei."

"So?" Naruto snarled, raising his head and narrowing his eyes. "You think it was _fun_?"

"Sasuke," Kiba said slowly in warning, while Choji began to look anxious.

"No," Sasuke said, narrowing his eyes, but not otherwise moving. "It just means that if you had been better, Iruka-sensei would not have had to die."

"Wait!" Sakura yelped, eyes widening. "Naruto's responsible for that? I don't want to be on a team with Naruto in that case, either! No matter what!"

The part of the desk Naruto's arms rested on suddenly collapsed into splinters, and a pair of sharp blue eyes gave Sasuke a piercing, furious glare.

Immediately, the entire classroom erupted into argument, even Hinata timidly trying to say something, though her words were lost in the brassy boom of Kiba's argument that Sasuke didn't know what he was talking about, and the lower rumble of Choji's opinion that Naruto hadn't actually said that. Naruto raged at the Uchiha heir silently, Shino observed quietly from his spot, hardly having moved the entire time the prospective genin had been assembled, and Shikamaru, watching from the front row, wondered when his gaze crossed Shino's glasses, if their eyes had actually met.

Everything clicked together, then. The three who were silent, naturally.

He wasn't going to get to wait until after he was well on his way to chunin, after all. This was going to be an especially terrible day, and if Sasuke's argument carried weight, Shikamaru probably wasn't going to end up on a team with Ino and Choji after all.

This was more than troublesome; this warranted a genuine curse.

Damn.

"Quiet," Ibiki said, not raising his voice in the slightest, but instantly silencing the class as all eyes went to him - even Sasuke's and Naruto's. The scarred man raised one hand to his head and swept off his bandanna, prompting a squeal of fright from Ino, and a shudder from Sakura, who finally collapsed back into her seat. His scalp was lined with particularly hideous scars, probably a warning of what happened to ninja who made mistakes.

"In the course of your careers as ninja, you will naturally face death. I expect that this fact should be ingrained to your educations long before your graduation yesterday - be it in the classroom or on the battlefield. You will be expected to take lives." Turning his gaze squarely to Sasuke, the scarred man added, "It is especially unbecoming to be frightened and jealous of a fellow ninja because he has crossed that milestone before you. It is as undesirable a trait in a ninja as destroying school property in response to an insult." For the last his heavy gaze swept to Naruto, who bowed his head and looked away.

The Uchiha heir's face reddened as he looked away sharply, glaring at nothing.

Ibiki instead put his bandanna back and turned his attention across the classroom, lingering on Shikamaru for a moment.

Not good. _Very_ not good.

"Before we continue ... raise your hands, if you've been exposed to death. If you have ever seen a life end."

Almost everyone raised their hands, some sullenly, some obediently. Shikamaru's hand was up with the others. Only Choji had his hand down, now looking at his classmates nervously.

Glancing at Kiba, Ibiki asked, "Nin-dogs?"

The boy nodded, his expression tight, forming into a scowl and growing defensive.

Ibiki said nothing further, not questioning the validity of Kiba's opinion. Instead, his gaze went next to Sakura, studying her. "And you?"

"W...when I was younger, I saw a horse break its leg from a runaway cart," Sakura answered hesitantly. "I...it couldn't walk after that, and so..." She shrugged.

Shikamaru realized it was now inevitable. There was nothing he could do to avoid it.

Ibiki grunted. "Alright. Have you seen a life taken in combat? In a life-or-death struggle, not merely the course of nature? If not, hands down."

Kiba and Sakura lowered their hands.

Ibiki surveyed them all in turn, nodding slightly at Sasuke, and not questioning. His gaze lingered on Ino for a moment, and he raised one eyebrow a very slightly distance. She quickly offered, "Uh, when I was smaller, my father took me on a training trip ... there was a bandit attack, and..." She shrugged, looking mildly uncomfortable.

Ibiki nodded again, turning to Hinata.

"W...when I was small, a kidnapper from Kumo came for me," Hinata said quietly. "My ... family protected me, and killed the man to save me."

Ibiki nodded at that, then adjusted his stance slightly. "How many of you have taken a life?"

Hinata, Sasuke, and Ino lowered their hands.

God _damn_ this was going to be a terrible day.

"Well," Kiba said quietly, looking between Shino, Naruto, and Shikamaru - the three with their hands raised, "you three should make a fine assassination team, then."

And there it was.

So much for taking it easy and kicking back.

"I'd say it myself, but Naruto already did it so well," Shikamaru said in a quiet drawl, before the orange-clad boy could do something in response. "So, Kiba? That thing that he told Sasuke to do? Go do that."

The boy with the red markings on his face blinked, stunned. Well, fine, then. He hadn't really wanted to do this, but what did it matter? Whatever else he'd been in class, Naruto was capable of killing a chunin - he _would_ be an effective teammate, at least in that regard. With Shikamaru's own ability to lock things down, and Shino for scouting and various utility functions...

Yeah, he didn't need anything to do with the rest of the class. Shikamaru dropped his hand to his side, rose from his seat, and moved to the back of the classroom, choosing a spot midway between the wary Naruto, and the still impassive Shino. The other two who had taken lives.

Ibiki seemed completely unimpressed. "What you should take away from this, is that if you intend to be ninja - at some point in your careers, when I ask that question, all of your hands should be raised. If you are not prepared for that, you are not prepared to be ninja." The door opened again, and Ibiki turned to look, seeming just as unimpressed at the pair of jounin who entered.

Asuma was fairly familiar to Shikamaru, as was Kurenai. He didn't miss the way Kurenai looked immediately upset to see Ibiki in the classroom, or how Asuma's eyes narrowed, as though he had just sensed that something was very, very wrong.

"Ibiki," Asuma said, frowning slightly. "A word, please?"

The burly man wordlessly left the room with Asuma, leaving Kurenai as the only authority in the room. "So, then..." the red-eyed woman trailed off as she blinked, surveying the class one more time. "It seems that you were informed of the fates of your teachers, then?"

Shikamaru and the others managed nods.

"Right, well... There will be a memorial for Umino Iruka tomorrow. Given circumstances, you won't need to meet with your jounin until the day after. At any rate, in the face of everything-"

She cut off as Asuma's bellowing voice loudly snarled something - but for all its volume and how much it rattled the newly-minted genin, it was so indistinct as to be incomprehensible.

"Well," Kurenai said somewhat hurriedly, her expression not changing, "despite that - we've pulled together and finalized your teams. You'd like to know that before you leave, right?"

Shikamaru pursed his lips, wondering if Kurenai had any idea how much hell was about to break loose. If Shikamaru understood things - and he was fairly confident he did - he was _supposed_ to be placed on a team with Ino and Choji. Logically, the only teacher who could train Sasuke was the legendary 'copy ninja', Kakashi. At an educated guess, though it wasn't by design, Shino and Naruto would each be intended for other teams, too.

It would start with Sasuke and Naruto being placed on the same team - he just knew it. Being right all the time was starting to lose its luster.

"First of all," Kurenai said, scanning across the students, "Team Seven - Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura-"

She broke off as Sakura unleashed an annoyingly loud squeal of delight, even as Ino released a tortured wail.

"-and Uzumaki Naruto."

Sakura's cry immediately cut off with frustration.

"I refuse," Sasuke said flatly, just as some of Naruto's upset began to slowly transform into hope. "You have to trust your teammates to watch your back - the loser let Iruka-sensei die. That girl and I have both already explained that we want nothing to do with such a teammate."

Yes, being right was rapidly becoming less fun.

"Yeah!" Sakura chimed in happily. "Someone else can be on our team!"

"Like me!" Ino interjected quickly.

Kurenai pursed her lips, frowning.

"I...I wouldn't mind being on a team with Naruto-kun," Hinata managed to offer, her voice trembling. "I could ... trade, maybe?"

"That is not how this works," the jounin sighed, shaking her head. "Your teams are picked based on a balance of abilities-"

"So you're sticking a total loser with the two of us," Sasuke interjected, shaking his head. "I know I placed best in class, and Sakura at least has good grades - but now he's getting placed with us on account of his _pity_ qualification?"

Shikamaru had seen it coming, and been quietly preparing the jutsu. Even so, he only just _barely_ managed to snare Naruto in the shadow bind before he could leap from the ruined remnants of his desk at Sasuke. Naruto's wordless snarl of rage drown out his own quiet announcement of a successful technique. Shikamaru gave a pointed stare to Shino, who he trusted was silently observing everything that happened, even as the shadow-user's body started to tremble from the effort of restraining Naruto.

He was freakishly strong for his size! It wasn't hard to imagine that strength tearing Mizuki apart!

"I believe this point to be evident," the Aburame boy remarked suddenly, startling the other genin as he spoke for the first time that day - the first time ever, when he hadn't been called on, actually, "but I disagree with your judgment. The combat award that Naruto-kun has earned is significantly more meritorious than any amount of bookwork or classroom exercises.

"While it is true that historically the lowest-rated student in class was paired with the highest-rated student to strive toward a balanced team, that stricture seems to no longer apply. In point of fact, this would make your hypothetical team imbalanced by including the two _theoretically_ most capable students in the classroom along with the only _proven_ one."

Though he looked puzzled by the specifics, Naruto managed to determine that Shino was standing up for him, and his struggles lessened. Relaxing, slowly releasing the bind, Shikamaru threw in his lot with the orange-clad boy. Best be on good terms with them both; something he was glad that Shino seemed to have grasped as well.

"That seems accurate to me," Shikamaru agreed with the insect-controller. "I think that Naruto's gone through a lot more trouble to prove himself a capable ninja of Konoha than either of his teammates. What a pain..."

"Don't talk down to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura whined.

"O-kay," Kakashi said cheerfully as he strolled into the room. "Sorry I was late, but there was this thing and... Anyway, never leave home without a good set of lock...picks..." He trailed off, surveying the genin remaining in the room. "R...right. I'll be the teacher for team seven-"

"Suddenly, I don't want to be on that team anymore either," Naruto said with disgust, glaring at the legendary copy ninja with undisguised scorn. "I like Sakura-chan, but I don't think dealing with Sasuke's worth it - especially since _you're_ the asshole that punched me out when Iruka-sensei was trying to tell me his final words!"

"I thought I hit you hard enough that you wouldn't remember that!" Kakashi said brightly. "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends, does it?"

"Teams are built on trust, huh? Well ... some day I'm going to be Hokage - and to do that, I'll need a team with a better teacher than you, and a better teammate than a certain person! I don't think I want to learn anything _you_ could teach me... I'm ready to kill and die for Konoha if I have to - but not with you!"

For a heartbeat - since he was specifically searching for it - Shikamaru was certain that he saw genuine, deep hurt in Kakashi's visible eye, before the jounin chuckled, one hand going behind his head in a practiced, disarming gesture... "You know what? I think these team assignments might need a second review after all."

Kurenai gave him an unimpressed, disbelieving look. "Asuma's going to be pissed," she muttered, in a voice that probably wasn't meant to be overheard. Realizing she'd spoken too loudly, she shrugged, giving up the pretense of maintaining an aloof demeanor. "It's on your head." After that, she marched out through the door.

"Haa... Haha," Kakashi chuckled weakly, surveying the genin, now currently confused as to what their assignments were. "Well-"

"Why not let us choose our own teams?" Shikamaru suggested, shaking his head. "Simple and easy - Shino-kun, Naruto-kun, and myself will be fine. You'll have to train a certain kekkai genkai that we don't have, so everyone's happy because we'll need a different teacher." He noted the way Naruto started at that, the surprise and relief in the other boy's eyes... That was just sad. But as far as Shikamaru could tell ... he really _was_ probably one of the stronger ninja in the room. Especially with how badly he'd strained Shikamaru's binding jutsu.

For a moment, Kakashi looked like he was considering it. Then he shook his head. "No promises - but you've been through something unfortunate recently, so let's set aside today's anger, calm down, and approach this all over again after the memorial service. I think we all might feel better after we made peace with these troubling events. It's dark right now, but remember, it's always darkest before the dawn!"

With that, the jounin offered what appeared to be an unreasonably happy smile behind his mask, and then vanished in a whirl of leaves.

"I don't want to be on a team with the loser," Sasuke muttered quietly, to no-one in particular.

"Oh, shut up," Kiba grumbled. "If you weren't being such a whiny princess, we would have gotten our freaking _teams_ today!"

Shaking his head, Shikamaru turned slightly to Naruto. "Plans for later?" he asked.

Naruto started again, breaking away from the argument forming between Kiba and Sasuke, shaking his head at Shikamaru. "Not really," he mumbled. "Maybe ... Ichiraku's..."

Shikamaru wasn't sure what that was. "Alright. Hey, Shino-kun, what do you say us marked veterans go grab some lunch and talk about prospective team assignments, huh?"

"That is agreeable," Shino remarked, rising from his desk.

The trio was halfway to the door before Ino asked, "When you get a merit promotion, do they just let you get away with breaking school property like that?" She seemed more amused than genuinely insulting.

"What are you referring to?" Shino asked mildly in return, before Naruto could retort.

Ino's cheeks turned slightly pink, and she looked annoyed, gesturing to the desk that Naruto had smashed- Except ... now it wasn't smashed anymore. The section that Naruto had broken apart was intact again. At a thought, Shikamaru glanced to the floor, watching a stream of small insects retreat into the taller boy's coat. A twitch of his fingers caused Shikamaru's shadow to stretch out and cover the insects, but he didn't bother binding them, simply amused by how easily they disappeared in the slightest bit of shadow.

Well, then again ... they were _ninja_ bugs.

Shino adjusted his glasses slightly - Shikamaru suspected it was to conceal a self-satisfied smirk ... but then, if he had the skills to reassemble a desk in a room with eight other genin, and not one of them noticed it, he'd probably smirk like that, too.

What the hell. They might make a fine team after all.

Hopefully, he could be right about that, too.

* * *

Kakashi really wished he had managed to turn Anko down. In the end, he was a coward, running from what he should have dealt with a long time ago. For all of his complaints, for a very brief period, he had managed to truly clear his mind. He was able to share in something that...

It wasn't perfect, and it didn't really shine, but it had been _nice_, and afterwards, for all of her attitude, she was quiet and thoughtful, and soft, and she smelled like flowers and soap, and...

And, well, he'd overslept.

And, evidently, when no one could find him at his usual haunts - or his home - no one thought to check Anko's apartment.

Probably because, as he reminded himself once again, he shouldn't even have _been_ there. Net result, since the Hokage was busy attending all of the paperwork surrounding Mizuki and Iruka's deaths, it had somehow fallen to _Ibiki_ of all people to talk to the children. _Children_!

There was a damn good reason Ibiki was kept out of the sight of genin until Konoha was hosting a chunin exam!

And thanks to that, Kakashi's earnest mistake had now snowballed into a truly colossal fuck-up. He brought his attention back to the present, where the sandaime was staring at him with a particularly unimpressed look, his visage slowly creasing to show greater displeasure as he ruminated on what had resulted.

After a long minute of thought, the sandaime leaned back into his chair and gave a few thoughtful puffs on his pipe. "I want you to know," the Hokage said gravely, without preamble, "that I hold you responsible for the damage done today. Last night ... I can understand what a former ANBU agent's reaction is to seeing an academy student with a forbidden scroll, and two dying chunin. But this, Kakashi?" He shook his head in disappointment that stung Kakashi almost as much as the silent times that he spent looking back on his failures.

"I don't know what to do to fix this," Kakashi admitted quietly. "And I don't know if I can fail my teacher with regards to his son again."

Some of the angry light in Sarutobi's eyes faded at that. "You had better not," the Hokage said with surprising mildness. "Work with Asuma and Kurenai - those are nine of the most promising genin we have. The nine we expect will actually complete qualification. It's your responsibility to find _some_ way to get them working together. We will discuss this again after the memorial service."

Kakashi knew a dismissal when he heard one, and accepted this one gratefully. The old man had a knack - he could make a powerful ninja feel lower than a worm with only a few careful words.

Outside of the tower, he spotted Anko, looking relaxed and far too satisfied with herself for his tastes. She spotted him and gave him a faint smirk, changing course from wherever she was headed to align with him.

Just perfect. The one person he could most easily blame - other than himself.

"Anko," he said in a level voice.

"Kakashi," she returned. "Hmm. You look like hell."

"It may have something to do with last night," he returned.

"You're a legend for being late; can't pin that on _me_," she countered without hesitation. "Come on - the dango stall I couldn't make it to last night is open now. I'll treat you."

"Thank you, but I've had enough problems thanks to-"

"Before you finish that comment, let me just say that those who live in ninja houses should not throw books."

"It was a _paperback_," he said, more tersely than he would have liked. Why was she suddenly so keen on needling him, anyway? "If you're any kind of ninja, I'm sure it wasn't dangerous to you."

"I've seen a man killed with a book," she countered. "It was amazing, actually - the book was opened, and then, you know, it acts like a kind of buzz-saw - one paper-cut per page, and- Yeah, that could really have harmed my delicate kunoichi complexion! That book could have crippled my infiltration abilities!"

"I'd like it back, now, if you don't mind."

"And I'd like _you_ to be a bit more responsive," she countered, uncaring of the fact that they were surrounded by other ninja - and especially ANBU - that were on their way in or out of the tower. "We don't always get what we want without a little blackmail and arm-twisting. We're going to get dango, then maybe you can tell me what precisely _prompted_ your little soft-cover missile of hardcore death."

He almost snorted at the absurd remark. He was starting to genuinely hate this woman...

"I can buy another copy of the book," he said with mild resignation.

"But you won't ... because I'm pretty sure I can string you along until I actually finish reading it - another day or two, at most."

He shouldn't have been surprised, but he was. "Fine," he decided tersely, gesturing her to lead the way. "But I'm going to need some sort of binding promise you don't spread this around or try and use it against me."

"Pinky-swear?" she offered, grinning and holding one hand up, smallest finger extended.

He just hoped she had as much of a migraine as he did, trying to sort everything out.

* * *

Aburame Shino tried to follow the precepts of his clan in his pursuit of becoming a successful ninja. One of his family's prized attributes was an interesting, if unintended side-effect of tending the kikaichu - namely a love of logic and a suppression of emotion. The kikaichu could easily be disrupted by uncontrolled emotion at some levels - pheromones, increases of blood pressure, heart rate...

And so, in the process of being the best hosts possible for their partner insects, the clan as a whole seemed cold and methodical. Shino was keenly aware of the fact that this put a divide in how he was perceived by other ninja in the academy, but his clan had cultivated that as a strength, too.

In truth, he considered himself and Nara Shikamaru to be very like-minded in many ways, even if the shadow-user had cultivated a lazy, uninterested persona.

Looking at his potential allies logically, Shino was confident that his abilities would find an adequate role in any combination of the remaining genin. He had a hard time spotting any one of the remaining eight genin that hadn't been assigned a team yet and thinking he couldn't use his skills with theirs to better effect.

The major setback on that front was the fact that he had been warned by his clan that the standoffish persona he and his family wore would make forming solid bonds difficult. He also was completely aware of the fact that a great many people were made uneasy by the Aburame clan's ability to host the insects within their own bodies - and the fact that they generally did not go to much real effort to hide their connections.

A special jounin making that divide between Shino and his classmates more obvious was not a helpful step forward.

So, as one of the three that had been singled out by the unfamiliar teacher who told them that Iruka was dead, he followed quietly a half-step behind Shikamaru and Naruto as they strolled down the street.

Shikamaru had his arms up, fingers laced behind his head as he stared contemplatively at the sky. Naruto stood to one side, walking with him, but shooting regularly confused, wary glances at the Nara boy.

"My parents figured that I might want to hang out with my teammates," Shikamaru said, glancing at Naruto sidelong. "So, they gave me some money for lunch - of course, they also thought that I'd be teammates with Choji and Ino, so unless you two can out-eat an Akamichi, I can cover all of us, probably. So, what are you in the mood for?"

"I like ramen," Naruto answered quietly.

Shikamaru gave a thoughtful grunt at that. "How about Senzo's?" he suggested. "It's a noodle house not far from where I live - I know they serve ramen, too, but I'm in a mood for udon."

Naruto nodded, seeming surprised again by the gesture, then looked back curiously to Shino.

Shino offered a short nod, explaining, "I have no complaints." In point of fact, he'd brought a boxed lunch from home - but if Shikamaru was trying to arrange a team-building exercise, he could ignore it for the time being - there were plenty of kikaichu with his clan, so even if it went bad, it wouldn't go to waste.

"I think that must be Shino's way of saying he doesn't like udon or ramen - but noodles are still okay."

Unused to opinions being assigned to him when he offered few of his own, he answered, "I prefer yakisoba."

"See?" Shikamaru asked, dropping his hands and offering a wry grin, shrugging at Naruto.

"You're being weird," the orange-clan genin decided, looking at Shikamaru askance.

"He is being logical," Shino countered. When Naruto turned inquisitive blue eyes back to him, Shino clarified, "As has been iterated before, the life of a genin, or that of any ninja, is in the hands of his teammate. Shikamaru-kun is attempting to win our friendships and encourage bonds of trust between us - so that when the times comes, and it's a life-or-death struggle, we will save his life - as I will likewise expect him to do for us."

"Fuck," Shikamaru muttered in the same wry voice, giving Shino a newly appraising glance, shrugging again as he grinned. "Yeah, okay - he saw right through me."

"You're trying to get on my good side so I'll save your life some day?" Naruto asked doubtfully, shooting Shikamaru a suspicious glower.

"Well, take that sentiment - which I believe Shino-kun here actually agrees with - and compare that to your other options in class. Who would you rather be on a team with - the guys who tell you honestly that they're approaching the problem like _ninja_, as an obstacle to be overcome... Or maybe a certain Uchiha, who cares more about nursing his hurt pride?"

"Indeed," Shino agreed. "It is ... strange that we be put together merely because of certain incidents in our past." After a pause, he admitted, "I found the reactions of some of our classmates quite disappointing. That unknown jounin-"

"Morino Ibiki," Shikamaru supplied helpfully, rounding a corner and gesturing to a restaurant down the block. "He's a special jounin."

"He's in charge of interrogating people," Naruto added quietly.

Shino adjusted his glasses to mask a facial twitch. This Ibiki character sounded like someone he should be aware of. Given Shikamaru's father's position, it was a given he would probably be peripherally aware of most of the important people in Konoha. After all, Shikaku was the current jounin commander.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a thoughtful nod as they walked through the entrance of 'Senzo's', a noodle shop that seemed to be doing slow business, most of the lunch crowd already dispersed. An aged man that Shino guessed to be the proprietor looked up and called out a greeting that died in his throat as his eyes tracked across the three.

Either not noticing, or not caring, Shikamaru raised a hand in greeting, calling back, "Yo. Table for three, Senzo-san?"

Shino's attention was wholly absorbed by a somewhat unexpected phenomenon. "I- We're ... about to close up, actually, until dinner," the man said, not trying to conceal his derision for Naruto.

"Huh," Naruto grunted, his expression hardening, though he said nothing.

Shikamaru released a tiny sigh. "Troublesome," he muttered. More loudly, he said, "Senzo, I've been coming to this place for years - you don't close in the afternoons. What's going on, really? Some sort of yearly cleaning?"

Shino realized that Shikamaru was playing a careful game with words, and that Naruto could jeopardize whatever strategy the shadow-user was trying to establish. Before Naruto could follow up with the smart remark his face said he was intent on forming, Shino clapped one hand on his shoulder.

The orange-clad boy started, twisting free and turning around, regarding Shino suspiciously. "Shikamaru-kun's negotiation may take some time," he said very quietly. "A snack may not be uncalled for."

When Naruto's expression shifted to confused, Shino reached into his coat, finding the inner pocket where he stored his lunch easily. Shikamaru glanced back, then turned his full attention back to Senzo as the old man shook his head. "No ... just ... as I'm getting older, it's harder to keep the shop open all hours..."

Grudgingly, Naruto nodded and accepted a rice ball after Shino unwrapped the meal, wolfing it down voraciously. Come to think of it ... Shino had no idea what Naruto's presumed time with Ibiki was like. He may not have eaten since the previous day.

"And it's only because you're feeling old and infirm, not because, say ... you wanted to ensure that if Konoha were attacked by ninja, everyone would know that you didn't welcome them to your establishment, right?" Shikamaru pressed.

"S...Shika-chan," the old man said shakily, "I have no problem with ninja! You know your family has eaten here for years-"

"So, my _family_ is welcome," Shikamaru continued, nodding. "But for whatever reason ... my prospective teammates are not?"

"No!" the man protested, glancing fearfully at Naruto. Shino could tell the glare was not intended for him ... though, to be fair, any number of restaurant owners were uncomfortable around his clan. _That_ might not be entirely unexpected. But what issue would this man have with Naruto? Perhaps a legendary victim of one of Naruto's pranks?

"So my teammates _are_ welcome?" Shikamaru asked, giving the man a dubious look. "As it is, you're being really confusing. See, all of us here are genin - that means ninja. If there's some legitimate reason you have to treat any of us differently, I'd really like to hear it. Because from the lowliest of genin, to the highest ranked jounin commander - we are all ninja. We are willing to kill and die for this city. And you ... don't want to sell us food because...?"

Senzo worked his jaw for a moment, then his expression hardened, darkened. "I will say no more of this," he declared. "We are closing, and I can not serve you."

Shino handed the rest of his lunch to Naruto, countering whatever outburst he had planned with a need to gobble down the last of the rice balls. "Our time is not well spent here," Shino noted.

"The time of any ninja," Shikamaru agreed. "Well, whatever. I don't really get it, but if Senzo doesn't want to serve ninja ... I'll spread the word - let every ninja know they shouldn't eat here."

Senzo winced at that, visibly stung, but said nothing else. Shino allowed a smile, hidden behind the collar of his coat. The man's business would not do well in a hidden village if there was a reputation of ninja avoiding it. The three left silently, until they reached the street, and Shikamaru unleashed a quiet curse.

"Change of plan - let's do a practice D rank mission," the shadow-user decided.

"What's a D rank?" Naruto asked, either distracted by the idea, or wanting to change the subject away from the old man's reaction to him.

"You should have paid more attention in class," Shikamaru noted. "First of all - tell me what you did to piss that old man off? I never knew Senzo had it in him to be such a prick. What brought that on?"

Shino wasn't sure it was wise to pry so soon, but acknowledged a certain curiosity of his own.

"Something from when I was really small," Naruto muttered, looking away. "I'm not joking about this, but it's an S-rank secret, and I don't want to talk about it."

"That man is a civilian," Shino observed. "He should not know an S-rank secret."

"I agree," a new voice broke in, all three boys turning in surprise to look at Shikamaru's father. He glanced sidelong at Senzo's, where a pair of ANBU were walking through the doorway along with a grim-faced Yamanaka Inoichi. "Now, Shika-chan, you were looking for a place to speak with your future potential teammates and have a peaceful lunch, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed, though his attention was entirely on Senzo's shop.

The blinds over the windows went down, and shortly after that, Shino lost contact with the few kikaichu he had left in the entrance by habit. Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, while Naruto blinked in confusion and Shino felt a sudden loss of interest in the restaurant.

"Anyway ... Naruto-kun, Shino-kun, this is my father-"

"We've met," Naruto and Shikaku said simultaneously.

Shikaku wasn't as scarred as Ibiki's, but the tracks of some ancient injury still marked the right side of his face, coloring and twisting slightly when the man smiled. "Yes ... well, sorry about that trouble this morning, Naruto-kun." He turned his attention to Shino. "And you must be Aburame Shino-kun, the genius of your clan."

Shino wasn't sure what to make of that. He nodded, bowing in greeting and acknowledging, "I recognize you by reputation, even though we have not formally met."

"Well ... now we have!" the man said brightly. "So - you kids look like you could use some food." He gave an apologetic smile to Naruto. "I know what you had for breakfast wasn't very good."

Naruto nodded eager agreement at that remark.

"Alright - as Shikamaru has probably already determined, your best course of action is to go home and do a mission for my wife. Run along, now!"

The three quickly turned and did as they were told, shortly reaching a sizable home. "Wow!" Naruto gawked, staring up at the second floor from the street in disbelief. "You live in an _estate_!"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Only place I've ever lived - I have nothing to compare it to," he said dismissively, pushing open the entrance and stepping inside the grounds.

Shino wouldn't call it an estate by any means. A home, absolutely. It had a yard, and a low, private wall (somewhat meaningless, in a ninja village, so only for decoration), and was stately enough... But it was smaller by far than the Aburame clan holdings - and those were _nothing_ compared to an established clan estate, like that of the Hyuuga or Uchiha.

"It is very nice," he offered.

Shikamaru grunted, stopping at the doorway to the house as it opened, and a somewhat annoyed looking woman - though, Shino could recognize many of Shikamaru's features in her - peered out, sending the most dire parts of her gaze over their shoulders before settling on Shikamaru. He saluted smartly, announcing, "Team possible, reporting for assignment."

"Here's your mission," she answered, handing him a tightly rolled scroll, and a small stack of ryo. "I want receipts."

"Got it," Shikamaru replied, taking both items and turning on one heel. As the door shut, he began in a somewhat lecturing tone, "Before a ninja can go on rank C missions - generally, the lowest rank of 'real' missions - they have to prove to their teachers and the Hokage that they have teamwork skills and can hold it together. So, D rank missions are basically charity work that genin in training, or some ninja who have pissed off the Hokage, end up getting assigned."

"Charity work?" Naruto asked, annoyed.

"Hey ... you want to be Hokage some day, right?" Shikamaru asked, unrolling the scroll and glancing across it. It was a list of grocery supplies.

"What does _that_ have to do with _this_?"

"There's a saying about that," Shikamaru remarked absently, pulling a pen from his belt pouch and crossing 'fresh onion' off the list.

"'The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step,'" Shino quoted.

"Huh?" Naruto asked in confusion, glancing between Shikamaru and Shino. "I don't get it! And why did you cross something off the list we didn't get?"

Shikamaru instantly shot a nervous glance over his shoulder, towards his distant home, then shook his head and turned back to the list. "Because I don't like onions, and for a few weeks they're out of season, meaning I can claim I didn't find any and she'll probably buy it."

"And in other words, if you wish to become Hokage, you must become many other things, as well," Shino added. "Your first step on this journey is to rise from the academy to the rank of genin - which you have almost accomplished. Now you must prove your candidacy and become a certified genin."

"What do you mean 'certified'?" Naruto wondered. "We're genin, aren't we?"

"I think in your case, you might be, thanks to the merit thing," Shikamaru acknowledged. "The rest of us, well ... out of the twenty seven students that graduated yesterday - in the end, only nine will be allowed to retain genin rank. The rest get sent back to the academy, or get passed on to non-specialist roles. Or, I suppose, eight, as it works out.

"In any case, Konoha tradition is to only accept the one third of all students that are judged most capable. The others are given roles as non-specialists, typically. It doesn't get tossed around much, because they like to make it sound like only the best of the best become ninja at all, but there is another tier of less remarkable ninja to make up our numbers."

"On another limb," Shino noted, "if your merit promotion does not guarantee you genin status, then your first goal should be to guarantee your rank. In this way, you will progress on and eventually become capable of attaining chunin ranking, and then perhaps a special jounin, or simply straight on to jounin. From there, though hard work and dedication, perhaps you will achieve your goal."

Naruto gave him a very strange look at that. "You're not saying that I can't be Hokage?" he asked quietly.

Shino personally found the prospect highly doubtful. But then, he'd _also_ never expected that Naruto would be capable of killing a chunin - one of their teachers, no less - when he turned out to be a traitor. "I do not know if you can," he answered honestly. "But it will take hard work and dedication, if it is to happen. As things stand now, I would truly expect that the only superior choice among our immediate peers is Shikamaru-kun."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Shikamaru replied, rolling up the scroll and turning towards a small market district. "I'm already doing more than I'd like to, trying to pull us into a team. Think about it ... even _more_ responsibility?" He snorted. "So, yeah - you're going to have to really work at it, Naruto, since I don't want the job."

Naruto was even more taken aback by that, leaving all three in silence until they finished shopping.

* * *

While Naruto had originally held high hopes for making the rank of genin, things had taken an unexpected turn after Mizuki's betrayal came to light. He didn't relish reliving that evening, but he guessed his teammates were going to ask. Really, given how sensible the two of them them were, he felt he had to at least try and match that seeming maturity.

It really sucked that the three of them had gotten lumped together because they had taken lives, but they were trying to make the most of it - and hadn't mocked his dream of becoming Hokage. He had wanted to be with Sakura, more than anything... But he couldn't imagine that, not now.

That bastard jounin and Sasuke together? Add in the fact that Sakura could be, well ... mildly standoffish when Sasuke was around, for some reason... A team of people either indifferent, or straight up out to get him?

Or Shino, the quiet, surprisingly wise-seeming bug-user, and Shikamaru, the alarmingly honest and methodical shadow-user. He wasn't positive, but he was _pretty_ sure it was Shikamaru who had frozen him stiff when he was about to kick Sasuke's ass. As much of a pain as that was, he realized it was another of Shikamaru's logical bids at 'building teamwork'.

And what did he really have to complain about? He could prove he was better than Sasuke by kicking him around the classroom - probably - but Shino had then gone and said that a merit promotion was superior _anyway_. So ... all that Shikamaru had really done was save him the trouble of actually doing it, and maybe giving himself more trouble with his teachers.

Alright, his pride had taken worse blows than that throughout the years. He didn't _like_ being locked down like that, but afterwards, given Shikamaru's dedication to the three of them getting some sort of actual lunch together, it wasn't worth complaining about. Plus, Shino's weirdly subtle remarks were making him feel stupid - no reason to act _really_ stupid.

Shikamaru explained a bit more about D rank missions on the walk back to his home, and once they delivered the groceries he led the trio around the back of his house, where there was a small private training ground. Beyond that was a gate in the wall, leading to the street in the direction of what Shikamaru offhandedly explained was the private section of forest that his family owned outside of Konoha.

The shadow-user had bought himself some dango on the grounds that Naruto and Shino had already had a snack, and was absently tracing a regular, even grid into the ground with the skewer.

The stern woman that Naruto still hadn't been properly introduced to seemed to be Shikamaru's mother, and had raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's claim that there was no fresh onion. Other than _that_, the three were left alone while she prepared a meal of some sort.

Normally, he would have been more curious about the magical process that transformed the mundane ingredients they had collected into food. As it was, he expected that the other boys were about to break their silence and ask him to tell his story. Well, he could do that, he supposed...

"Let's get to know one-another a little better," Shikamaru suggested suddenly, done marking off his grid. He glanced at the other two and said, "I'll go first."

Clearing his throat, he gave a polite nod of his head to the others and began, "My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like sleeping, games of strategy that require minimal effort, and reading. I don't like bossy women, onions, and people who don't think. My dream is to become a successful but unremarkable shinobi, and retire after passing on the secrets of my clan." He nodded at Shino expectantly.

Shino nodded in return, continuing, "My name is Aburame Shino. I enjoy reading, practicing techniques in my family's style, and encountering new, rare forms of insects. I do not appreciate intolerant people, and those who cannot recognize that every life, no matter how small, is part of a greater whole." After a pause, his brow furrowed behind his dark glasses slightly, and he explained, "I do not like people who step on bugs. My dream is to become a successful shinobi - perhaps in ANBU - and develop new techniques that will be used by future generations of my clan."

Recognizing that it was his turn, Naruto bounced to his feet, determined to try and meet his new teammates with the same civility that he had been shown. "I am Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, making new friends, and learning new jutsu, even if I mess up a lot at first. I don't like stupid jerks, or people who knock me out without even letting me explain what happened. My dream is to some day be Hokage, but I think you already knew that."

Shino and Shikamaru nodded, Shino turning to look at the other boy's grid thoughtfully. "White or black?" Shino asked Shikamaru.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow before glancing at his grid and said, "White - no offense, but give yourself a four stone advantage."

Naruto had no idea what that meant, but Shino gave another nod and touched four of the intersections in the grid with a fingertip. A small cluster of the boy's kikaichu ran down to cluster there, leaving dark circles where he touched. "What's this?" Naruto asked, genuinely intrigued.

"This is go," Shikamaru said, glancing at Shino. "It's a strategy game I happen to like." He spent a few minutes explaining the rules as he and Shino played. Naruto couldn't help but think it looked _incredibly_ dull, himself.

When Shikamaru touched the grid, a small cluster of kikaichu obligingly ran in from the edge of the game-board, clustering in place with wings spread, making ... not quite white circles, but brighter, slightly shiny spots. "I am not very skilled at this game," Shino acknowledged, when Shikamaru seemed to outmaneuver him, capturing kikaichu left and right. "However, this application of kikaichu was taught to me by my clan at a young age; this is considered a basic chakra manipulation exercise."

Well, that made it somewhat more interesting again. Naruto doubted he'd be picking up bugs to live in his body anytime soon - they really wouldn't like the other resident, he was pretty sure. Still ... he'd never had a clan teacher to give him additional guidance. That seemed like it might have been a nice edge.

"I will share something in confidence, here," Shino continued, not breaking from the game he was losing. Of course, now that Naruto knew that winning or losing didn't really matter, as much as practicing chakra control, he thought he could see why. "My clan techniques are not a kekkai genkai, but I can trust you with some secrets, due to the fact that it may as well be.

"Specifically, we become hosts for our partner insects shortly after birth. Periodically throughout our lives, certain adjustments must be made before we can achieve fine control over our kikaichu."

"I think I know where this is going," Shikamaru said dryly, nodding. "Forfeit? New match - six stones?"

Shino waved a hand over the playing field, and all of the insects retreated, except for enough to mark six dark spots. "To continue," Shino said, seeming unperturbed, "one of these adjustments to allow fine tuning of the kikaichu is a price that must be paid in blood."

"I thought they ate chakra?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow, already placing light spots on the grid.

The Aburame boy did not nod. "Until the host is mature enough, kikaichu are by nature parasitic. They consume the host's blood as well as chakra. Regular ingestion of the blood of a more mature host is required to prevent the kikaichu from harming their host initially. The training to adapt the females - the generators of our kikaichu eggs - requires that they feed on non-Aburame blood and the chakra of their host simultaneously. It may take several attempts at this to correctly train the females and ensure their traits are carried on through all successive generations.

"From that point on, the relationship becomes fully symbiotic. The kikaichu recognize that their life-essence and well-being is connected to their hosts, and submit themselves to a finer degree of chakra manipulation."

Shikamaru broke from the game and stared at the sky for a moment. Naruto tried to understand what the boy was saying, but it went _well_ over his head.

"So ... in order to keep your clan insects from eating you, you needed to regularly drink blood from your clan members?" Shikamaru asked.

Shino nodded confirmation.

"How much blood?" Naruto asked, morbidly curious.

"A few drops suffice," Shino answered. "The point of all of this is the following:

"After certain clan rituals, which I will not disclose, at the age of eight I was taken on a training trip with my parents. We dressed as poorly defended traders and brought a bundle of silk-wrapped goods to the border of fire country."

"At a guess ... looking for bandits or outlaws to attack you?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

Shino nodded confirmation again. "We were indeed attacked by bandits, as expected. With the aid of my parents, and to satisfy the requirements of my kikaichu." He hesitated, not looking back to the board when Shikamaru touched another intersection. "I would never be able to become a genin if I was dependent on my clan to supply me the blood I needed to restrain my kikaichu. It is in fact likely that I would become a liability to the village at large should they become uncontrolled.

"So, from a logical standpoint, I know why it was done. And it would seem that the life of a bandit is the smallest thing, and if not truly in self defense - we are, after all, ninja - but it is _no_ small thing to take a life." He paused again, scowling slightly behind his dark glasses. "While not entirely senseless, my younger temper was permanently cooled by this realization; as a shinobi, I will take lives if I must.

"Killing for power and personal gain is a wrong thing. It is unfortunate that the secret of my clan's power has its roots in something like this..." He shrugged apologetically.

"This saves me some trouble," Shikamaru said with a matching shrug. "While my family techniques don't have those ... interesting side-effects, the power of shadow-extension has an almost identical requirement. I was nine, but it was the same thing. Go with the parents, dress up like poor traders, find some unlucky bandit, and yay, new power." He pursed his lips, shifting about and disregarding the game that had fallen by the wayside. "I don't think this is actually that unique, all things considered.

"There's a really good possibility that other ninja out there have to do the same thing ... I think the bigger point is that you not _enjoy_ it. Did you catch Ino's remark about a bandit on a training trip? I bet you that's close to the same thing - but maybe she only needed to see it instead of actually doing the killing.

"It sort of makes sense, too. We're going to be exposed to that. Going through the academy, making the rank of genin, and then freaking out over the first time you kill someone? All that wasted effort - years of schoolwork, weeks training with a jounin, a team being dissolved because one member dropped out..."

Naruto blinked in realization, considering what Shikamaru had said. That was an entirely different type of edge than what he'd been thinking.

"Interesting," Shino remarked, looking thoughtful. "Hyuuga Hinata's story may have a similar foundation?"

"I think that was a legitimate failed kidnapping," Shikamaru mused. "Then again, I can't actually disprove your theory. So, possibly. There's no sense beating ourselves up about it - there have been kids who made chunin before the age we made genin. Like Ibiki said, it's probably not like they got there without killing a few people."

Naruto had to admit that was probably true. He really, really didn't want to relive that moment again... But they'd just said when they'd first killed - and why. He was confused about the morality of it ... but then, they were ninja, weren't they? Wasn't it okay that he'd killed Mizuki?

He cleared his throat, prepared to begin explaining when Shino abruptly raised one hand, palm towards Naruto in a warding gesture. He was taken aback for a moment and scowled, but then decided to say nothing, and just watch the Aburame boy.

A few heartbeats later, Shino dropped his hand to his side, and just after that, Shikamaru's mother appeared, carrying a tray laden with bowls. "Alright," she said, glancing across them, "be careful, the bowls are hot."

"Thanks," Shikamaru said first, rising to his feet and taking a bowl, wincing at the heat. He quickly settled back to his original seat, balancing the bowl on his knee. Shino likewise collected a bowl and reclaimed his position, and Naruto belatedly followed suit.

Somehow, Naruto realized, toughing out the heat and savoring the aroma, Shino had known she was coming, even though he hadn't heard a thing. Huh. That was something else.

She set the tray on one side of the makeshift game-board, courteously avoiding any of Shino's bugs, leaving a tea pot and three cups behind. "You enjoy your food - oh, but while I'm thinking about it, Naruto, do you have a formal uniform?"

"I... N...not yet," he admitted nervously. That had been on his to-do list, honestly, but there was that whole ANBU detention and questioning thing. And after that, well, he wanted to eat, like Shikamaru had suggested.

"Alright. Shika-chan, before Naruto leaves, loan him your spare."

"Got it," Shikamaru agreed, already digging his chopsticks into his bowl.

Once the woman left, Naruto peered into it, salivating over the donburi before digging in himself. A few minutes later, after he'd managed to demolish the meal, he announced, "That was really good."

"Yeah, at least she can cook," Shikamaru remarked between bites, not even halfway done with his. Naruto wondered if he'd think that way about his parents, if he had them.

Shaking his head, he set his bowl near a wandering group of Shino's bugs, so they could help themselves to the dredges - the last bits of rice and sauce. "Ah, alright. So, after I failed the test yesterday, Mizuki uh, told me to steal a scroll from the Hokage - said it was a secret graduation test...

"I pulled it off - I stole the scroll from the Hokage, even though he tried to stop me. After I got away, since it was a forbidden art scroll, I ... you know ... immediately tried to learn the first one, right?"

Shikamaru blinked, not looking away from Naruto. "Probably that's what I'd do," he admitted after a moment, nodding.

Shino wordlessly continued to eat.

"A...anyway, then, uh, well, Mizuki hit Iruka-sensei with a shuriken ... um... Iruka-sensei actually ... threw himself in the way to ... protect me. Then Mizuki said that the blade was poisoned, and I was going to die next, so..." He gave an unsteady, shaky laugh. "I used my new technique on him."

"Can you tell us about this technique?" Shikamaru pressed, curious.

Naruto nodded. "I can't teach you. Uh, your father actually explained it to me - it takes a ton of chakra, which is the main reason it's an A-rank technique. Supposedly, most genin or academy students that tried to use it would probably die from chakra exhaustion. It's called taju kage bunshin no jutsu."

"So," Shino remarked, pausing his meal for a moment, "unable to use an E-rank technique ... you instead mastered an A-rank version in one night?"

Naruto nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Don't believe me?" he challenged, hopping to his feet again.

"I do, actually," Shikamaru said, shaking his head in negation. "They don't just hand out hitai-ate. So, how's this different from a regular bunshin?"

Swallowing, and kind of wishing that Shikamaru had just picked a fight to relieve some tension, Naruto explained, "The kage bunshin is solid. It can run around and do almost anything you can - if I get better at it, then it can even take a light hit or two before it disperses. But the important thing is ... when a bunshin is dispersed, you receive all of that bunshin's experiences.

"But, see, I didn't... I didn't know that. I just realized I had a kunai, and then I created, you know ... one thousand four hundred and thirty seven bunshin, and I wanted them all to try and kill Mizuki because he had poisoned Iruka-sensei. And I thought, well, that would all be fine, because _I_ wouldn't kill him, the _bunshin_ would..."

Oh, but it hadn't worked out that way.

"So... Each bunshin stabbed him once or twice before being dispersed... And I kind of ... got a bit overwhelmed, and wasn't really sure what was going on - I was just receiving every single bunshin's experience as it ... sunk the blade in, thinking, hey, I'm just a bunshin ... I don't have a reason to feel bad about killing him, and anyway, Mizuki's really an asshole for trying to kill Iruka-sensei..."

He shrugged, grabbing a cup of tea and sipping at it.

"That sounds ... unpleasant," Shino allowed.

"Huh, yeah... But that's an A-rank technique for you. I can see why it was on a 'forbidden' scroll. Still ... that's amazing, that you were able to steal something from the Hokage, and learn that technique in a single night," Shikamaru remarked.

"Y...yeah," Naruto agreed managing a weak smile. "I am pretty awesome. Anyway ... after that, while Iruka-sensei was trying to tell me something, and the poison..." He trailed off and offered a shrug. "Then that bastard jounin - whatever his name is-"

"Hatake Kakashi," Shikamaru supplied. "The legendary 'copy ninja.'"

"Well, whoever he is, he punched me out the second he showed up, and I woke up in a detention cell with Ibiki, the Hokage, your father and... Some other guy, I forget. Anyway, they asked me all kinds of questions about what happened, though the Hokage kept telling me that I wasn't in trouble, they just wanted to hear my side of the story." He shrugged.

"Honestly, I never would have guessed that Mizuki was a spy," Shikamaru admitted. "I can imagine why they were so surprised."

"Including Hatake Kakashi," Shino agreed.

Naruto gave him a doubtful look.

"But, really, the applications of being able to send bunshin out ... you said you can create hundreds of bunshin?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said lazily, forming the seals for the B-rank version, popping two more of himself into existence behind him. They rose to their feet and moved to spar, mimicking blows instead of risking immediate dispersion. "Uh, that's just the weaker version, since I don't really want to remember hundreds of me just standing around in the yard.

"Plus, they said not to 'overdo it', whatever that means..."

"And that still takes a substantial amount of chakra?" Shino asked.

"I was told that this version's chunin-level," Naruto acknowledged.

Shikamaru nodded, musing, "Huh... So, here's a question ... how long can you make them last?"

Naruto shrugged absently, while the sparring bunshin looked kind of curious. "I'm not sure. Your father and the Hokage kind of explained it to me - it sounds like normally it can last up to half a day, maybe up to a full day as long as it doesn't get hit, or disperse on its own to report back."

"They're autonomous?"

"I don't know about that - but they can do things on their own. They're pretty much copies of me, except that they know they're copies. If I learn them, they can even produce jutsu - when you perform the technique, your chakra is even split between all of them."

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence as Shino and Shikamaru both stared at Naruto.

"I think our team is unstoppable, if we play our cards right with that," Shikamaru noted. "Think of the practical applications... Me, I'd probably end up with a dozen lazy bunshin just sitting around all day, but you... Wow."

"What's so awesome?" one of the copies asked, before the other punched it, sending an annoying flood of memories, the entire record of its brief awareness back to Naruto.

"That was stupid," Naruto chided the remaining bunshin, which dispersed, replicating the previous surge. He grimaced sourly. "I just called myself stupid."

"Alright, there's room for improvement - but the potential is there," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "With you learning that so quickly, and able to make bunshin... Think about it - you could send a bunshin to the library every day and have it read an entire book. At the end of the day, when it started to get hungry - poof, you remember everything it read right in time for dinner!"

"I don't really like to read," Naruto complained.

"Work smarter, not harder," Shino advised.

"Huh?"

"You could make a hundred of your bunshin - easy for you, you say - and have them practice taijutsu," Shikamaru suggested. "You learn everything they do, right?"

"You probably only get so much out of fighting yourself," Naruto said doubtfully. Though, he did have to admit, polishing his taijutsu... That did actually sound useful. If he had better taijutsu... Or, heck, any other jutsu he wanted to get better at.

"More importantly, if you can create hundreds of bunshin to practice taijutsu, you can spare a few for the library," Shikamaru pointed out. "Think of the advantages of some day receiving an emergency mission to an unfamiliar country. You send a team of bunshin to the library, and they spend a few hours researching, while you're already running hard towards your destination. They finish their research and report back to you - and even better, anyone you told in advance can just go down to the library to warn you if there's an update, or something else you need to know! By the time they're done, you know almost everything the village can figure out, and you're a day's travel towards your destination!

"What Shino's saying is, making a hundred bunshin to beat someone up is powerful, and takes a lot of strength. Using a few dozen bunshin to cleverly gain intelligence and practice skill ... _that_ makes a better ninja."

Naruto was astounded. Shikamaru was making complete sense. Plus, well... It wasn't like he was _happy_ with the thousands of memories of stabbing Mizuki to death. Maybe sacrificing a few bunshin to the library kami every day would help cloud that annoying blot. Damn, he had no idea he was really that powerful!

"And a better ninja may some day be a superior Hokage," Shino agreed, snapping Naruto out of his daze. "Even as a teammate, your bunshin represent opportunities to help us train, as well. With dozens of bunshin participating in combat exercises, you will have a supreme potential for insight into the flaws in our taijutsu, as well as any poor errors in our strategy.

"You might theoretically even create small teams of bunshin to act as antagonists against us in training exercises. If I correctly understand my father's occasional remark that one should look 'underneath the underneath,' then the true strength of this jutsu is not the ability to create an army, but in much more sophisticated applications of your own strengths."

Naruto was utterly floored. He wasn't _settling_ for being on a team with these people ... they treated him like a teammate, and an asset simultaneously. Like a real ninja. They looked like they expected the same from him. As much as it galled him to admit, Shino was right that Shikamaru would be the better leader among the group - at least for the moment. If he was taking those small steps the bug-user was talking about, being just a plain genin before being a team captain, and then working up to chunin...

Yeah, that was fine. Plus, if Shikamaru and Shino were going to come up with better uses for his bunshin than he had, he'd be an idiot not to listen to them. "I think I'm going to like this team," Naruto decided.

Shikamaru nodded, saluting with his teacup before finishing it off. "Hoping that we actually get to be a team," he acknowledged.

That, in addition to everything else, cast an aura of thoughtful quiet over the group.


	2. Chapter 2

Motivation Chapter Two

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

Naruto hummed to himself, seeming fairly cheerful, considering the earlier altercations - and the recent death of his sensei. He took a seat at his favorite stool, calling out, "Hey Teuchi-san."

"Hello!" the old man behind the counter replied cheerfully. "How are you doing today, Naruto-kun?"

"I think ... I'm doing alright," he allowed, nodding. "Say, can I get a beef ramen, and, um, a shrimp one, too?"

"Coming right up!" the proprietor agreed, swiftly setting the noodles to boil and preparing the other ingredients. "So, I hear that graduation was recent - and I see a hitai-ate on your head, is that right?"

"Y...yeah, kinda," the boy admitted, staring at the counter. "Um ... could I get some tea?"

"Sure thing!" Swiftly, the tea was served by the younger looking girl at the cook's side. "Ayame-chan's voice is lost at the moment," the cook noted apologetically.

She gave an apologetic smile and touched her throat before shrugging.

Naruto sipped at the drink thoughtfully, then said, "I hope you feel better soon, Ayame-nee."

Her smile brightened and she gave a tiny nod.

"Well, how about your graduation, then?" the cook pressed.

"I did something to get, a um... They call it a merit promotion, I guess. I kinda, uh ... failed the actual test, but they decided I was good enough to be a genin anyway, because I learned a really awesome secret technique! So, yeah, I kinda made it."

"Well, that's still amazing!" the man said. "Tell you what- Anything you want is on the house tonight in recognition of your success! It must be great being acknowledged as a part of Konoha, eh?"

Naruto nodded, surprised at the conviction in the man's voice. "That's... That's pretty cool, Teuchi-san - in that case, double my order!"

"Ah, you're going to make me regret that offer, aren't you?" he teased. "But, alright. That sounds pretty great - why don't you look a bit more cheerful?"

"Um... L...last night, Iruka-sensei was killed," Naruto said, quietly, just as the man set a pair of bowls before him.

"No..." the cook groaned. "Iruka-san? That's- Oh, that's terrible! Well, I can see why you'd be a bit down - but even in troubled times, keep your appetite up! You're a - what's it, genin now, right? You're going to need your energy for what's coming!"

"You're right," Naruto agreed, eating his ramen slowly. "Thanks, Teuchi-san - this is great, as always."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it, then," the vendor agreed, before shaking his head and sighing morosely. "Poor Iruka-san... There's going to be a memorial, right?"

Naruto nodded.

"If citizens are welcome, I'd like to be there." Tilting his face upwards, the man heaved another sigh, shaking his head again. "What a pity..."

"That's one of the risks of being a ninja, though," Naruto said quietly. "Um... Hokage-sama and a bunch of other guys ended up talking to me about it a whole lot earlier this morning. I had to report what happened, and everything. They told me that Iruka-sensei's last request was that ... I be the best ninja I could be, because he believed I was..." He trailed off and his voice cracked, only halfway through his first bowl of ramen.

"Hey, hey," the man said comfortingly, reaching across the counter and giving Naruto a consoling pat on the shoulder. "It's alright..."

Naruto spent a few minutes sobbing into a clean washcloth that the ramen cook offered him until he regained his composure. "It's funny ... I don't really even feel hungry..."

"You still have to eat," the cook said resolutely. "You want to do right by your teacher, don't you?"

"Y...yeah," the boy agreed, sniffling, raising a hand to touch his hitai-ate. He offered a smile and resumed eating his soup with a bit more energy - finishing just in time for the next round.

"So, what do you think about your teammates? Or have they decided that?" the cook prompted, setting out a fresh cup of tea.

"I've met some guys that are actually really awesome," Naruto answered, nodding. "I might get stuck with a loser I really don't want to share a team with, but Shino-kun and Shikamaru-kun - I think we'd make a _great_ team. I really hope that I get put with them, anyway!"

"There's a ray of sunshine in all of this," the cook agreed, smiling softly. "Now - tell me about your new friends, huh?"

"Yeah! Alright - oh, but hey, gimmie two more shrimp ramen - and then a miso! Also, you got any pork buns?"

The cook chuckled, shaking his head but preparing the orders as Naruto rambled about meeting his new friends, occasionally trailing off into a thoughtful silence when he remembered his teacher. After eating his fill, some nine bowls of ramen in total, he thanked the cook profusely and skipped back to his apartment, humming thoughtfully.

His sad little apartment... The cook sighed once Naruto was out of sight, stepping back into the restaurant, where a doppleganger watched him pensively.

"You know," Teuchi said, shaking his head, "I don't really see why you can't just talk to the boy on your own."

Dropping the henge, Kakashi reached for his wallet, quickly counting out a short stack of ryo. "This should cover the damages," he noted. "Again - please don't mention this."

The girl that had stood silent by his side the entire time released her own henge, reverting into the form of Anko. The real Ayame shook her head at her father's side, looking at the ninja doubtfully.

As for Kakashi and Anko, they were well clear of anyone else - on the rooftops - before she finally remarked, "It's interesting to see that the sharingan can be used to copy recipes and cooking styles, but really. What _was_ that all about?"

"You wanted to see for yourself," Kakashi answered with a shrug.

At least Anko had behaved while infiltrating ... but then, she was supposed to be an expert. And it wasn't like Ayame wasn't grudgingly agreeable to the idea, once Anko had explained that they were actually trying to look out for Naruto and examine his stability after the encounter with Iruka and Mizuki. She'd given the special jounin some tips on emulating her, at the end.

"I guess that's true," she agreed, somewhat mollified. "Gotta admit, this looks like a pretty crummy situation. It's nice that we got to do a little breaking-and-entering, and it's cute that you replaced his expired milk with something fresher - but that's not really going to fix this. Do you have a line on some kind of solution?"

He sighed, looking up towards the sky. "How is my book, anyway?" he asked.

"I won't spoil it for you, but chapter sixteen was _steamy_," she acknowledged, grinning. "Just twelve more chapters to go. Anyway, what's the problem, then? Kid seems to have come across a team he'd like - why not give them a shot?"

"There's this thing where he wants nothing to do with me," Kakashi remarked irritably. "In my defense, I came across a boy who had stolen a forbidden scroll, the mutilated remains of Mizuki, and the dying form of Iruka - knocking him out while he was shaking in terror and confusion ... well, it seemed like a good idea. You know - at the time."

"Nice," Anko said, rolling her eyes. "Alright, what about the other kids? What kind of sensible teams can you put together?"

"Well..."

* * *

After a subdued day to assemble and conduct the memorial service commemorating the loss of a loyal Konoha shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to his office and allowed himself a few pained moments of solitude to reflect on the service. His focus throughout the speech was on the unity of Konoha, and what a loss Iruka's death represented. Truly, a ninja might be expected to lose their life at any time ... but chunin instructor was considered among the most 'safe' roles a ninja could perform.

Realistically, medical-nin were exposed to more danger than any instructor should have been. Perhaps that was what had allowed a traitor such as Mizuki to be placed where he was...

But the memorial was over, and he had reconvened a small group of jounin to deal with another pressing issue. The aftermath of Iruka's death, more than the service.

Along with Kakashi, the current target of most of his ire, were Kurenai and Asuma. Somewhat less expected was the presence of Anko. While Sarutobi wasn't entirely clear on the circumstances, it seemed that Kakashi held her partially responsible for some difficulties.

After checking his crystal ball for a moment, ensuring that they weren't being spied upon, the Hokage sighed, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. "Before we begin, I am curious at Anko's involvement, here," he said quietly.

"Have you tried to keep her out of something she's decided she's going to be interested in?" Kakashi asked dully.

Anko snorted in amusement.

"Yes," the Hokage agreed, opening his eyes and shooting the woman an unamused stare. "But I expect compliance in this issue. Anko, why are you here?"

She scowled slightly, but then behaved as a kunoichi should, nodding to Sarutobi in deference. "Hokage-sama - after the search for Naruto was called off, the night that Iruka was killed, circumstances caused my path to cross with Kakashi's. From there, I was curious about his circumstances, and have probably been prying more than I should - however, I was never at any point told that I was attempting to acquire any secrets I should not have access to. Or even, really, to stop... I think Kakashi likes being hounded."

The copy ninja's emotions were difficult to read, but Sarutobi picked up on the irritation and mild horror that Kakashi didn't show anyway.

Snorting, Sarutobi allowed a grudging nod. "I see..."

Kurenai pursed her lips silently, looking between the two thoughtfully. Asuma actually snorted, turning his attention to rolling a cigarette and then lighting it with a flick of his fingertips.

"And on _that_ note, while I don't know everything that's going on, I have been watching the major players," Anko added. "As I understand it, this is basically something that fouled up determining who will be this year's rookie nine, right? The most promising group all got into some drama over some childish bullshit?"

"Not being a full jounin, or placed in a teaching role, you won't understand that while childish, these outlooks are still legitimate to our genin," Kurenai warned. "It would be easier if we could simply _tell_ children that it is time to be an adult, but that growth process is rarely complete before graduating the academy."

Anko ignored the jibe at her lesser rank and shrugged. "You three need to figure out which students you get, right? Well, you were watching your potentials throughout the memorial?"

"Yes," Asuma agreed, frowning. "Shikamaru, Naruto, and Shino were all together - unless I miss my guess, Naruto was actually borrowing Shikamaru's spare formal wear for the service - looked a bit loose on him."

"Hyuuga Hinata spent her time more concerned about Naruto's wellbeing than the loss of her teacher - though both obviously shook her," Kurenai noted, frowning. "Ino seemed probably the most stable of anyone, somewhat shaken from her normal pursuit of Sasuke. Sakura is convinced that whatever else happens, she's going to be placed on a team with him - she also regrets the loss of her teacher, but both of them are more concerned with their romantic futures at the moment."

"At that age, most girls and many boys are more interested in romance than ninjutsu," Kakashi noted with a shrug.

Kurenai and Anko both shot Kakashi skeptical looks, and Sarutobi waved a hand to head off the argument he could see brewing. "Your point being?" he prompted the copy ninja.

"Ah, of course," Kakashi acknowledged the subtle reprimand, sighing. "Kiba seemed alright - fell back on his family for support. He hasn't much been paying attention to most of the other students, in comparison to his teacher. He, Choji, Shikamaru, and Naruto were the lowest scoring members of the nine, so he's likely to prefer being with one of his old friends. Like Choji, Kiba feels that this situation indicates that he is a weaker ninja. Sasuke's in the same state - except it rankles him to have his status as one of the better genin challenged.

"Ibiki wasn't polite about it, but his statement was essentially correct. Given some time, I think Sasuke will cool down and be able to work with Naruto ... but I can't really say how soon that is."

"Man, I wish I could have seen their faces when Ibiki was talking to them," Anko lamented, sighing. "That must have been _fun_!"

"Anko," the Hokage said in warning.

"I'll be good," she apologized.

"So, teams," Kakashi said with a shake of his head. "I've turned Naruto against me, at least for the moment."

"Well," Asuma noted with a shrug, "you'll be training Sasuke regardless."

Everyone else nodded acknowledgement; who else had a sharingan?

"So it seems," Kakashi agreed. "For team seven ... given a new understanding of how much his status means to Sasuke, I would like to chose two clan genin, so that I can focus on curbing that issue."

Asuma grunted, frowning. "Even if Shikamaru has made friends with Naruto and Shino, I'd like to have Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru - it's practiced, and it works," he opined.

"Hinata has excellent control of her chakra but lacks confidence - she'll be a bad match with Sasuke, from what I've seen," Kurenai mused.

"So," Kakashi murmured, rubbing his chin through his mask thoughtfully, "you'd have Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura - leaving me with Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino?"

Sarutobi nodded thoughtfully at the team distribution. It seemed ... workable. Something felt a bit off about it, though. Anko snorted, shaking her head and saying nothing. The Hokage's eyes fixed on her immediately, and he ordered, "Out with it."

She stiffened, then nodded. "Permission to make pointed, yet incredibly rude observations?" she asked.

Fighting back the small smile that statement engendered, the Hokage allowed, "Granted - temporarily."

Taking a deep breath, Anko stepped forward towards the Hokage's desk, then turned to face her three superiors. "Lazy bums," she announced, scanning across the three of them. "Seriously - Asuma, you're the worst. You want three clan kids with a known working combination - thanks to their family history - so you'll just be able to kick back and coast through your teaching assignment. Since all of their techniques are family only, you don't even need to _train_ them! And for teamwork, you can just point them to their families and say, 'That's how it's done'?"

Asuma's expression tightened slightly, but he showed no real signs of anger. The Hokage found himself reluctantly nodding, agreeing with Anko's assessment so far.

"And you," Anko continued, rounding on Kurenai. The red-eyed kunoichi's eyes hardened. "Have some _focus_! Don't you need to look underneath the underneath? Hinata needs some work - but her chakra manipulation and kekkai genkai leave Sakura behind. Boosting the flagging morale of a clan heiress is one thing, but she's got a lot more to work with in the first place. You can't just look at one thing that needs work and ignore the rest; Sakura needs help, too!

"If she's going to be any kind of kunoichi, she needs to first step up to the point where she's even Hinata's _equal_. I'll give Sakura credit, she's got determination and fairly decent chakra control. But she's also got a temper - so putting her on a team where you're absorbed with fixing the superior kunoichi's confidence while ignoring your other student's flaws? Sakura already seems to lash out at Naruto - you'll only be making that situation worse.

"You're basically condemning Sakura to feel inferior until she finishes some effective remedial training because, even given her strengths, Naruto out-powers her, Hinata is more skilled ... and Sakura's book learning won't stack up against the fact that Hinata can figure out what she needs to with the byakugan in any situation they don't legitimately have time to research. By the time she'll overcome any of those issues, she'll have had a chance to build up a genuine resentment for the two teammates you assigned her with. When will you find time to try and make her a proper kunoichi, too?"

"I see," Kurenai said, somewhat coldly. "Anything else?"

"There is the bad example you and Asuma both set by constantly making eyes at one another," Anko remarked with a knowing grin.

Kurenai's iciness was replaced with a furious, embarrassed blush, and Asuma coughed, suddenly finding the palms of his hands fascinating to study.

Some of Kakashi's dour mood seemed dismissed by that. "What - really?" he asked, sounding as curious as Sarutobi found himself.

Anko snorted, nodding.

Kurenai's cheeks had deepened in color, and she stared fixedly at Anko, her gaze promising death.

"While we might expect genin to miss those ... antics ... Anko makes a very good point about propriety," the Hokage remarked. "But let's finish this analysis."

"Should I make out my last will and testament first?" Kakashi wondered, when Anko's gaze swung to him.

"So, as far as I can tell ... you've got some freakish debt-of-honor thing driving you," she judged. "But you don't really say anything when you talk, so it's a hard call to make. It's clouding your judgment, though - you think you owe Naruto something, and since you're acting like you can't ever pay that back, you want to try and make it up by doing better for Sasuke."

He grimaced behind his mask, unabashed, and the Hokage raised an eyebrow, seeing the parallel. Just the thing to take Anko down the notches she undoubtedly felt she'd climbed in the exchange. "And my guess is your insight into this only comes from overstepping some of your own bounds," he remarked, causing Kurenai and Asuma to perk with obvious interest.

So much for the stoic ninja demeanor.

Kakashi gave nothing away, and Anko only shrugged, stepping back towards the door, assuming her permission to speak so freely had been rescinded. Well ... what she had said was true enough, in Sarutobi's mind. "The genin situation is quite a problem," he noted. "Well, Anko, given your other observations - what brilliant suggestion do you have?"

She looked thoughtful. "Everyone seems to expect Shino, Naruto, and Shikamaru as a team," she noted. "And from what I know of their styles, their major weakness would be ranged combat. Shino's utility and Shikamaru's clan techniques make for a well-rounded team - suitable for almost any direction they chose to focus."

"Alright," Asuma allowed, as though the demolition of the Ino-Choji-Shikamaru plan were a major concession. "And the other teams?"

"They're the reason those three can't be a team," Anko shrugged. "As far as I can tell - you can't build two really good groups with the others right now."

"Excuse me?" Kurenai started, blinking rapidly. "Explain, please."

"Sasuke, Kiba, and Ino," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "That could be a solid team. Very strong scouting, espionage, and Ino's the only weak link in becoming a strike group; her other abilities should make up for that."

"Leaving Hinata, Choji, and Sakura," Anko completed.

Asuma grimaced at that. "Choji's a specialized fighter," he acknowledged. "He probably wouldn't be a good match with Hinata's style. If Anko's observations about Sakura and Hinata on a team holds true, that could be problematic as well."

"Basically, you can shuffle it around, but as much as those three make a nice team - in theory - they leave the other teams hurting in some aspects. I can see Hinata and Choji coordinating in some fairly specific situations, but at this point we still don't really know what Sakura's going to bring to the table."

"I was originally hoping to put her with Sasuke and Naruto, in the hopes that they would motivate her to improve her range of skills," Kakashi admitted. "But it seems I wouldn't be able to lead that team."

"Naruto wants to be a genin," Anko disagreed. "Make him follow orders and be on your team anyway - prove his loyalty!"

"My undisclosed honor issues make me reluctant to agree to that idea," Kakashi said, somewhat stiffly.

"Then, give it up - put the nine of them in some stupid super-team, and make _them_ sort it out on point of failure," Anko declared, spreading her hands in a shrug.

Sarutobi sighed, shaking his head. "That won't work," he disagreed. "We have to chose nine of the twenty seven to pass. Can we say absolutely that this particular nine is the best suited to become genin?"

"Actually, yeah," Anko remarked, smirking. "You've got their paperwork and your own observations, right?"

"This could cause rather a lot of problems," Asuma noted, shaking his head.

"Maybe not," Kurenai countered. "We could replace standard teamwork tests and instead do in-depth skill analysis - unfortunately, the last person to have examined them all is Iruka-san." She paused a moment, and even Anko inclined her head slightly in recognition. "While we have his records, ideally we would like to have genuinely consulted with him. In this case, we may as well undertake that examination again, just as in the academy, with additional combat focus. We already _know_ the teamwork has issues, and we also know we need to address that."

"That ... has a certain amount of merit," Asuma mused thoughtfully. "Say ... stick the whole lot of them with a rotating assignment between us. If what Anko says is true, we can arrange it so that there will always be a jounin attending the main group, and then individual students can be taken aside for whatever training they might need - say, Sasuke's sharingan training, Kurenai wanting to work with Hinata, and maybe giving Sakura something that almost all of the teams are missing - a ranged specialization."

That sounded somehow much more workable to Sarutobi, aside from the mild administrative headache that it would probably prove to be.

"Wait, I was just f- messing with you," Anko protested with a quick, surprised glance at the Hokage.

"That's what you get for poking your nose into things," Kakashi remarked, shrugging. "I trust you've done enough damage?"

"No," Sarutobi countered, nodding thoughtfully. "Anko will continue to monitor the situation and offer her insights."

"Is that wise?" Kakashi asked, glancing at her sidelong.

Anko nodded her agreement with Kakashi's sentiment, looking at the Hokage in confusion. "There's a reason they go through Ibiki before they even get to meet me, usually," she noted.

"You're not to interact with the rookies except to save a life should it be required," Sarutobi warned. "I want you monitoring and passing your observations on to Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi." Turning to the doubtful Asuma and Kurenai, he added, "Anko's insights are brutal and pointed. It's possible that all of us have become somewhat soft, due to the fact that we are working with children. But then, they will be adults legally, since we've all but determined that they will be our rookie nine.

"I find Anko's suggestion of a rotating roster will allow us - at times - to make our students deal with both jounin teachers and fellow students that they might prefer to avoid. In this way, we can compromise. We have to balance our desires to protect them against our need to make them grow strong. If we've determined that these are the nine that we will progress, then we will invest everything we can in making them the best ninja possible."

"Understood," Kurenai agreed first, followed shortly by Asuma's grunted assent. After a glance at the other two, the copy ninja nodded his compliance as well.

"Well, crap," Anko sighed, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her chest. "Thanks, Kakashi."

"Pleased to repay you in kind!" he said, with something akin to genuine pleasure in his voice.

"Oh, you're paying for that later," she grumbled.

Snorting, Kurenai remarked, "Subtle."

"And to think ... we're concerned that the genin behave childishly," Sarutobi warned. "Enough - I have other business I need to attend to. I want this well managed - I expect the three of you, with Anko as a consultant, will make excellent ninja out of those rookies. If I don't see them at least in the first round of the chunin exams, I'll be disappointed with all four of you."

"Understood, Hokage-sama," they said in unison, before vanishing in swirls of leaves.

* * *

Hinata felt bad for the loss of Iruka - one of the nicer teachers she had ever known. Despite the fact that he was nice, she'd never really gotten to know the man well. She knew Naruto was close with him, and was cheered to see that even though he had been crying, he seemed somehow to hold himself together. His determination had not been extinguished in Iruka's death; she could tell by the light in Naruto's eyes that it would instead carry on in his memory.

So she decided the same would be true for her, too. Even though teams had been theoretically decided, she had a strong hope that she would - somehow - still be on a team with Naruto. He was really a ninja, now - and with his merit promotion, that much closer to becoming Hokage! If he could achieve his dreams, then she could try and believe in hers, too.

She got to the classroom early, simultaneously eager and worried about her inevitable assignment. Who would her jounin sensei be? Maybe that curious-looking woman with red eyes? Or that jounin she had only glimpsed, speaking with the grim, scarred man? She hoped it wasn't Kakashi - Naruto didn't want to be on a team with him. But then ... if the two of them were working under Kakashi together, maybe that would be okay?

She was surprised to see she wasn't the first one in the room - the moody Uchiha Sasuke was there, too, shooting her a sharp look, then looking away indifferently when he recognized her.

Pursing her lips, she said nothing to him, merely taking the seat immediately adjacent to where Naruto had sat the day before. She distracted herself by activating her byakugan to study the cracks and chakra residue from where Shino's bugs had repaired the surface. As far as she could discern, they'd actually eaten all of the broken bits of wood, and then somehow reformed it as some very wood-_like_ substance. Something that bugs made, anyway.

Her advanced sight probed deep enough to see that it was mostly sterile, and would probably last as long as the rest of the desk - though after investigation, there were dozens, probably hundreds of other marks where damage had been repaired with some hasty jutsu in the past. She released her kekkai genkai and looked up at the clock - seeing the spinning gears behind the clock-face always distracted her from checking the time.

The next student to arrive was Naruto, but he moved to a spot ahead of her in the classroom - and far to one side of Sasuke. After him was Shino, who took a seat near Naruto, and the pair began to talk quietly. Even Sasuke broke from his brooding, watching the two doubtfully until Kiba entered next. After that, the students who had properly been assigned teams began to trickle in.

There were two late arrivals, but both of them made it before their assigned jounin, so no one said anything. The other teams all trooped out to follow their teachers excitedly, leaving the original undecided nine behind.

She'd been distracted and hadn't noticed when Shikamaru arrived, taking the seat between Naruto and Choji, the three of them talking about something while Shino nodded and made rare contributions of his own. To one side, Sasuke looked irritated, steadfastly ignoring Ino and Sakura as they vied for his attention.

Kiba and her were the odd pair out, neither sitting particularly near another group, though Kiba looked like he wanted to join the other four.

Very shortly after that, the chattering cut off when a trio of jounin entered. There was the man she thought was named Asuma, there was the red-eyed woman, and lastly was Kakashi.

"Right," Asuma said without preamble, pulling a scroll from his vest and unrolling it, scanning across the text briefly. "So, due to certain circumstances, we've had a lot of trouble determining how to make good ninja teams from the lot of you. Our solution is that you're going to have to sort this out yourselves."

"What?" Kiba barked, blinking in astonishment. Akamaru cocked his head to one side and whimpered questioningly.

"I will make a team with Kiba and Choji," Sasuke offered immediately, narrowing his eyes.

"Mmm, not quite what we had in mind just yet," Kurenai warned, shaking her head slightly. "The nine of you have been trouble for us teachers, so the nine of you are going to deal with the same tasks - you must all qualify for genin together."

"Qualify?" Choji questioned.

"Yeah," Naruto piped up, "we're all just genin candidates. We gotta get circulated to become real genin."

Shikamaru snorted, glancing at the orange-clad boy and correcting, "Certified."

"Yeah, that," Naruto said, waving a hand dismissively.

Sakura blinked, looking at Naruto in surprise.

"Of the twenty seven graduates in this classroom this morning, only nine will actually become genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy," Kakashi added.

"Are we that nine?" Ino asked worriedly.

"Well, all nine of you, in combination teams of some sort, must prove that yourselves - but the only way you can do that, given certain ... attitude problems, is if _all nine of you_ work together. All of you must pass ... or all of you will fail," Asuma noted.

"As ninja of Konoha, you will not be allowed to let your dislike of another ninja interfere with your duty to the village," Kurenai continued. "_This_, more than trying to form some independent faction, is what will prove your teamwork."

"Crap," Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke gave a wordless, unimpressed grunt in agreement.

"This sucks," Kiba chimed in.

"And likewise, you don't get to choose who your superiors are," Kakashi added cheerfully. "So! Today, divide yourself into groups of three, we'll each pick a team, and then we'll discuss your suitability to remain as genin!"

Sasuke curtly said, "Fine - Choji, Kiba-"

Choji and Kiba glanced at one another, as Ino and Sakura began to protest Sasuke's choice. Hinata saw Shikamaru, Naruto, and Shino exchange a glance and a shrug, and realized she wouldn't be on a team with the boy she liked after all.

She bit back a sigh, glancing over, and saw she was likely to be stuck on a team with Ino and Sakura, still fighting over Sasuke. Somehow, she was confident she could survive without being on Naruto's team - but she didn't know if she could handle that yet. Steeling herself, she moved to Kiba's side and prodded his shoulder nervously. "W...we should make a team with Choji-kun, s...since Sasuke's so busy," she managed.

He startled, but instantly grinned at her, leaping from his seat to dart to Choji's side, repeating the suggestion. The three of them had assembled themselves in a group at the front of the classroom before Sasuke could fight his way free of the clinging girls.

"Alright," the red-eyed woman decided, gesturing Naruto's team to follow her. "Let's go."

Kiba's team was next, Asuma shooting Kakashi a particularly amused smirk as he gestured for them wordlessly.

The copy ninja sighed as Hinata, Kiba, and Choji quietly followed Asuma out into the hallway.

"Alright, alright - come on," Kakashi called, as they vanished past earshot.

The large man led them out of the academy, and a few blocks away to a fairly nice park with a view of the Hokage tower. "Right," Asuma said abruptly, turning to look at the assembled team. "On days when any of you are assigned to me as your jounin sensei, this is where we shall meet."

"We're going to have changing teachers?" Kiba asked in surprise.

"Getting a bit ahead of ourselves," Asuma remarked. "Let's have some introductions. I am Sarutobi Asuma. I like, hmm, a good smoke," he paused to light a cigarette, "shogi, and soba. I'm not a fan of asparagus. My goal in life is to proudly teach the next generation of Konoha to become admirable ninja in service to the Leaf." He nodded at that thought, then took a long drag on his cigarette and inclined his head to Kiba before expelling it in a long plume - directed upwards, out of the way of the genin.

"Uh," Kiba managed, somewhat impressed. "Well, I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Akamaru is my partner and best friend." The dog perched on his head yapped proudly. "I like spending time with Akamaru, chewy foods, um... For things I don't like - soft foods, and shops where I can't take Akamaru." The dog yapped again, and Hinata couldn't help but giggle at it - it was kind of cute. "My favorite word is Akamaru!"

"I see," Asuma remarked, nodding. Turning to Hinata, he prompted, "And you?"

"Um!" Hinata started, not expecting to be singled out next. But then, she had just giggled. "Um, my name is Hyuuga Hinata, and I'm pleased to meet you. Ah, I like, um, pressing flowers, and Na...ah...um, a certain person. My favorite food is cinnamon rolls. I d...don't like people who are mean, and shellfish. M...my goal is to some day be acknowledged by- t...that certain person."

"Quite nice," Asuma said gently. "Did you mean to say you don't like mean and selfish people?"

"Those either," Hinata managed, feeling her face heat up at the unintentional pun. "B...but I meant, um, crab and shrimp."

Asuma snorted as he gave her a neutral nod, taking another drag on his cigarette before turning to Choji.

"Akamichi Choji," the largest boy said, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding. "I like food, uh, appreciating nature, and hanging out with my friends. I don't like people who are violent needlessly. My goal, hmm, is to learn all of my family techniques at least as well as my father."

"Good, alright," Asuma decided nodding. "Now, we're all getting along. So, because of the situation here - we may not always be a team on any given day. And I hope you remember your introductions, because you're going to be doing a lot of them."

"We really are getting crazy mixed-up teams?" Choji wondered.

"To prove teamwork, before we determine which long-term partners - if any - you are suitable for," Asuma agreed. "Now - as to the testing... Meet me at training ground eight tomorrow at eight in the morning - sharp. Be sure to eat something reasonable for breakfast, you may be doing some demanding exercises." He raised a hand, and then dropped it sharply, snagging the finished cigarette from his mouth and causing it to somehow vanish in the same moment, leaving an origami flower drifting down to his feet. "You are dismissed for the day."

Hinata blinked in surprise, worried about her first day as an active ninja - after a day of mourning. This was not what she had expected.

"I think we'll actually be okay," Choji said thoughtfully, watching Asuma stroll away, lighting another cigarette. The boy pulled a bag of chips from his belt pouch and opened it, eating a handful. "See," he said around a mouthfull, his pronunciation somehow completely unaffected, "I'm worried that we might end up with some bad teams on some days, with this plan - we barely dodged an all kunoichi-team."

"Nothing against you, Hinata," Kiba said quickly, shaking his head. "But I'm just not that confident about Sakura or Ino ... both of them are kinda eager to talk and not much to get things done. You at least came up with a better idea - get on a team with Choji and me."

"We could be a good team?" Hinata asked in mild surprise, reaching for the origami flower as it settled to the grass of the park's lawn, picking it up between two fingers and looking it over curiously.

"Probably," Choji agreed, rubbing his chin. "Kiba to track, you to spot things, and me, well ... I can kinda punch things."

"There you go," Kiba said, crossing his arms over his chest. "But look at Sasuke's team at the moment. Now I'm _really_ ticked off. If Naruto and Sasuke can't work together, we're all going to be in big trouble."

"M...maybe we can figure some way to help them be a better team?" Hinata asked hopefully.

"Yeah ... Sasuke's not usually _that_ much of a prick," Kiba remarked, shaking his head. "Naruto can be kind of annoying, though - and now, what with his 'special' rank-"

"Naruto-kun earned that!" Hinata warned, surprised at the heat in her voice.

"Er... Not saying he didn't," the boy said warily, Akamaru narrowing his eyes and cowering back slightly without shifting his footing. "But we're still going to have to hope that Naruto can put up with Sasuke if we want _any_ of us to pass."

Nodding firmly, Hinata said, "I don't believe Naruto will let us down."

"Well, that's optimism," Choji remarked, fishing the last chip out of the bag before crumpling it up and tossing it over one shoulder, perfectly landing the trash in a nearby rubbish bin. "See you two tomorrow, huh?"

"W...well, actually," Hinata managed, holding up the unfolded origami, showing off a flier for a restaurant in town, "I think Asuma-sensei m...may have wanted us to go here?"

* * *

After enduing quiet, but relatively friendly lectures from both Shino and Shikamaru, Naruto was trying to resign himself to the idea of working with Sasuke. If he was going to have to in order to be a real ninja, well... He supposed the Hokage had to be pretty awesome, because some of his ninja might be real jerks - like Sasuke, or Kakashi.

And if he wanted to do better than the Hokage, well, he'd have to put up with that, too.

He didn't have to like it much, though. Putting up with it would be the first step - liking it could come later. At least it seemed it would be some 'rotating' assignment, so he'd only have to deal with it _some_ of the time, instead of constantly.

"She seemed nice," he mused, distracting himself from that train of thought and watching their teacher walk away from the wooded clearing where they had briefly met to discuss the arrangement and review their skills.

"Yeah, _she_ did," Shikamaru agreed, looking at one of the free meal coupons she'd handed the trio. "But this is just too suspicious. It didn't work out too well the last time we went to this place."

Shino looked briefly thoughtful, then acknowledged, "Logically, there is an ulterior motive. I confess curiosity as to finding out what."

"If you guys think it's a good idea," Naruto allowed. After a pause, he glanced at his temporary teammates. "What do you think she's really planning?" He'd like to figure it out himself, but he couldn't puzzle out what was behind the red-eyed woman's cheerfully supportive attitude.

Sure, she'd said there was no way she'd teach Naruto anything good until he polished up his henge and his kawarimi - but if he managed to perfect those and improved his chakra control, she'd promised to teach him shunshin! She'd made the same promise to Shino, provided he added some flexibility to his taijutsu and kept working on getting his kikaichu to let him perform jutsu without seals.

Naruto hadn't even know the kikaichu could _do_ that. Shino was becoming cooler by the day!

Shikamaru's list of problem areas was much lengthier - but still just as friendly and cheerful. He was told to work on his taijutsu, his throwing skills, and chakra building exercises.

After that, Naruto didn't particularly want to think she couldn't be trusted... But then, Mizuki had seemed trustworthy, too. And Naruto had spent a lot more time with Mizuki. A few thousand minutes of stabbing, over and over-

"Alright," Shikamaru allowed, rousing him from those thoughts, "I have a theory on that, but let's let it slide until after we get something to eat."

"Indeed - I find Kurenai-sensei's analysis worthy of consideration," Shino remarked.

Naruto fell into step beside the taller duo as they began walking down the street. "Huh, did she say I had the best taijutsu of all of us?" he mused. That was a positive, right?

"She kind of implied that, yeah," Shikamaru allowed with a shrug. "But to be honest, I've never planned on being a front-line fighter. Still, in a team of three, it's good to have one heavy combat specialist - so that could very well be you. Shino-kun and I are both stuck with clan jutsu taking up a lot of our training time - and you can use your bunshin to practice like crazy anyway."

Allowing himself to puff slightly with pride, Naruto nodded. Sure, there was the obvious fact that even though he was acknowledged as the _strong_ one, he knew he was furthest from being the _smart_ one. That was okay - he'd just learn to be smart from them. Standing up straighter, he said, "I sent a bunshin to the library to learn something new today, too!"

Unfortunately, the library was closed at night, so Naruto hadn't gotten to visit then. Still, practice was better than sleep, if he could help it. Sleep was where all of the other memories of Mizuki's surprise as the kunai sank in-

"Yeah?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow, pulling Naruto from the unwanted flashback. "I guess you don't know what it's up to until it disperses - so what do you think it's reading?"

Naruto frowned. The only reason he even _knew_ about the library was the fact that he'd targeted it for a prank once, a long time ago. He had no idea where to start looking. "I don't know," he admitted. "I guess ... I kinda screwed up- Well, that's fine! I'll do it better tomorrow!"

Shino allowed a slightly amused snort to escape. "In this way," he remarked, when Naruto shot him a suspicious glare, "you learn the limitations of your new jutsu. Mistakes are indeed made - that is why we try and get them out of the way during training."

"Watch out," Shikamaru warned, frowning. "I think our sensei planned a 'surprise' meeting of our rookie nine, here."

"What should I do?" Naruto asked quickly, looking between Shikamaru and Shino.

"Just listen - see what we can figure out from the clues the others give us."

Naruto nodded at that, glancing back down the street to the noodle shop they'd visited the day before. The same old man was humming idly, sweeping the entrance, and looked up with a blink at the trio approaching. "Shika-chan!" he called, waving one hand with a grin.

"Senzo," Shikamaru returned warily.

"Are you bringing new friends by? I don't seem to recall having met the pair of them before," Senzo said cheerfully.

Naruto wanted to yell at the old man, wondering where this sudden change of heart came from- But he also didn't like feeling like he had to be guided so much. Shino had prevented him from speaking a handful of times the day they'd first met up, and every one seemed warranted. So for the time, he studied the aged visage of Senzo and bit his tongue.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said with a slow drawl. "Last time we came by you turned strangely unfriendly..."

Senzo looked genuinely baffled. "Really?" he asked. "Wow I... Well, they say your memory is the first thing to go! But that's terrible - I don't recall a thing! I hope I wasn't too rude!"

"Okay," Shikamaru allowed, shaking his head. "Well, I think we can probably get over it... We have some coupons, anyway." He waved the free meal certificate in one hand.

"Alright!" Senzo said brightly. "No need, though - if I was a poor host recently, then I'll give you today on the house!"

"That sounds pretty good," Naruto said, before catching himself. Well ... getting another free meal _was_ a pretty good reason to stick it out. Sure, that made sense.

Shino and Shikamaru exchanged a glance, and he was fairly certain that for a moment the dark mirrors of Shino's glasses tilted towards him in consideration - and then Naruto felt suddenly buoyed by confidence that this time, he knew what that look meant. Shino gave a slight nod, Shikamaru a slightly more obvious one, and Naruto restrained himself to a single vigorous nod.

Shortly, they were seated at one side of a large rectangular grill table, turned off for the moment. Before their orders arrived, Choji and Hinata trooped in behind Kiba, looking around curiously. Hinata seemed to instantly brighten - and then look worn out, her cheeks turning pink. Their sensei must have put them through some exercises or hard training, he deduced, even though Choji and Kiba looked relatively fine. Akamaru was cheered when Senzo initially balked - but then said that nin-dogs were an obvious and welcome exception.

Following Hinata's gaze, Kiba claimed the seat adjacent to Naruto without asking, and said, "So, we have to have a test tomorrow morning - training ground eight at eight in the morning. Our sensei seemed pretty cool - maybe kind of lazy, though. What about you guys?"

"Pretty cool," Shikamaru agreed, nodding. "We got a basic skill assessment- We're going to training ground twelve for a more detailed one. Same time, though. Kurenai-sensei, eh... I can't help but feel she's kind of coddling - reminded us to get a big meal tomorrow but not overdo it, since the test might be taxing."

"Good advice," Choji agreed, sitting next to Kiba, while Hinata looked strangely disappointed, taking the furthest seat from Naruto of the trio.

"H...he seemed thoughtful," Hinata noted, when she seemed to notice Naruto's gaze lingering on her curiously. "Um, by his sash - he was once one of the T...Twelve Guardian Ninja. I t...think I read about that at some point a while ago."

Choji frowned at that as everyone turned to look at her, the menu he had somehow taken from Naruto's place open in his hands. "Really?" Kiba asked, surprised. "Wow - that's a cooler sensei then I thought!"

Naruto wanted to know what the Twelve Guardian Ninja were, but judging by Shino and Shikamaru's thoughtful nods, he'd just make himself look stupid. He tried to remember the question to ask later instead - when Kiba's team wasn't around. Before he could ask something else, just as a waitress came around to take their orders, Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino stumbled through the entrance.

Everyone stared at the faint streamers of smoke rising from their clothing, and the singed, sooty marks across Sasuke and Sakura's faces. Ino was by comparison much cleaner - but completely drenched, dripping onto the bamboo mat at the entrance. The Uchiha heir's scowl darkened, and he bit something back, forcing whatever emotion down to a mild glower. He stalked over to the table, trailed by a slightly wobbling Ino and Sakura duo.

There was a brief, half-hearted struggle over which of the girls was going to have to settle for the seat between Sasuke and Shino, which Sakura won by virtue of shoving Ino out of the seat with a wordless growl. The blonde landed on the floor with the wet sound of soaked cloth slapping the floor and just stayed there until a waitress offered her a towel.

"Tough sensei?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow when Ino finally collapsed into the last seat, towel around her neck.

"Ugh, Naruto's right - our sensei's a total _bastard_," she moaned, as everyone ordered their meals. "He threw explosive tags at us! And threw me off the bridge when my hair got singed!"

"And he was throwing kunai and shuriken, too!" Sakura complained. "He said we'd better come here and eat tonight - because tomorrow, we shouldn't eat at all. His test's so hard, it's going to make us throw up!"

"Eight in the morning?" Kiba asked, Akamaru wagging his tail and lolling his tongue out atop his head.

Sasuke grunted confirmation, then added, "Training ground three."

"So, Sakura-chan, why was he throwing weapons at you?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious - and more than a little worried. Was he just that cruel to _everyone_? Was that what ninja became?

"Don't be so familiar with me!" Sakura grumbled half-heartedly.

"He said real ninja should be prepared to escape death at a moment's notice in real life, and if we weren't ready for that, we would fail - and so, all nine of us would fail," Ino said sourly. "I mean, no pressure, right?" She hung her head. "Tomorrow's going to _suck_."

"Indeed," Sasuke grumbled, shaking his head. Shikamaru's team's orders arrived first, and Naruto happily slurped his ramen down. Not as good as Ichiraku's, but still pretty decent.

After a few thoughtful minutes of relatively quiet eating, Kiba said, "So, alright - this has to be thrown out there. Any one of us fails, we're all screwed, right?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, frowning. "I have revised my opinions on some matters, given that we truly have no choice."

"Oh, you think?" Shikamaru muttered, rolling his eyes as he finished his udon. "What's your point?"

"In the interests of advancing my ninja career, I have no real choice except to be concerned with the progress of my teammates - if they fail, so do I," Sasuke said sourly. "And Naruto - everything else aside - is capable. But I have real worries that Ino and Sakura will jeopardize our success if we don't improve their skills."

Naruto looked at Sasuke warily. Okay, like Shino and Shikamaru had said ... they were going to just have to tough it out. Sometimes he'd have to work with Sasuke. Sometimes, he'd have to endure Kakashi. If he were really unlucky, both might happen simultaneously.

Well, whatever - he'd survive. Somehow, he'd prove Iruka right - he'd get through whatever it took and become a really great ninja, and some day, Hokage.

"S...Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squeaked in protest.

"Come on!" Ino whined. "Don't be like that- Think how much better I could be if you were to help me train!" She leaned against him and batted her eyelashes, while Sasuke stared fixedly forward, Sakura grabbing his other arm and incessantly trying to reclaim his attention.

"Yeah, okay," Kiba allowed. "But, I think the main thing is that we need to really actually work together. We do all need to pass, right?"

"Obviously," Shino replied.

After everyone else nodded their reluctant agreement, Shikamaru prodded, "And you're willing to take charge, Kiba?"

Kiba straightened slightly, then gave a nod, grinning. "I can do it- Sure- Inuzuka are leaders by nature!"

Shikamaru grunted at that. Naruto didn't think too much of Kiba as a leader, either. He was - much like Akamaru - more bark than bite. He'd followed Naruto's ideas for pranks, on occasion, but there was no real spark of leadership there.

"I think I should take charge," Sasuke muttered with another of his dark looks. "I don't like risking my future in your hands."

Kiba bristled, and Naruto bit his tongue, wanting to jump to Kiba's defense. He settled for scowling into the remains of his ramen. Anything would be better than Sasuke in charge.

"From a democratic standpoint, let us propose the initiative that no one may vote for themselves," Shino suggested. "By show of hands - those in favor of Sasuke?"

Ino and Sakura immediately raised their hands.

"And those for me?" Kiba countered. Choji raised a hand. "Oh, come on! Naruto- You're on my side, right?"

"I vote for Shikamaru-kun," Naruto answered.

"All for Shikamaru-kun," Shino continued. Naruto, Shino, and surprisingly - Hinata - raised their hands.

The shadow-user sighed and hung his head. "Naruto, I thought we were friends," he grumbled.

"I'll agree to that," Sasuke said dubiously, giving Shikamaru a grudging nod as he raised a hand.

"Shikamaru's very smart," Choji chipped in.

"Eh, whatever," Kiba muttered, grimacing. "He's the closest thing we're gonna get to a happy medium." Akamaru whimpered sympathetically as Kiba reluctantly raised a hand as well.

"Alright, fine - I see how this has played out," Shikamaru grumbled. "And let's be honest - if all three sensei sent us here, this is probably what they were aiming for."

"Since you're so smart - what next?" Ino asked, sniffing slightly.

"Tomorrow, our sensei group decides to _really_ fuck with us," Shikamaru deduced. "I'm willing to bet that we'll keep today's teams the whole day, and spend an hour or two with each of them, learning their unique teaching style."

Sasuke and Choji made simultaneous thoughtful noises at that.

"Well, other than that, I've just gotten a bunch of extra responsibilities lumped on me - hooray for circumstance. Naruto-kun, Shino-kun, as two of the people who initiated the vote for me, come with me for a bit while I complain at length about the situation."

"W...what about me?" Hinata asked, halfway rising from her seat already.

"You'll get a pass for today," Shikamaru said, raising a hand and waving as he strode out the door, Shino and Naruto already in tow. "On account of a first offense, and all."

* * *

After the students had all left, Senzo hummed to himself and cleaned his restaurant, cheerful greeting the quartet of ninja that entered afterwards. "Corner table, please," Anko said in response.

The four were shortly seated, Anko gnawing on an empty dango skewer idly. Kakashi ordered tea and a dinner set for all four of them as Asuma and Kurenai pondered what they had seen. "Well, thoughts?" Kakashi asked, raising his visible eyebrow and scanning across the other teachers. No reason to include Anko. She wouldn't hesitate to offer what _she_ thought.

"I'm not sure what's more impressive - that Sasuke cooled his animosity towards Naruto, or that Naruto bit his tongue when they met up," Asuma mused. "They played smart with the Senzo test, too."

"I was half expecting to need to break up a fight," Kurenai admitted.

"Carrot and stick," Anko said, shaking her head. "With the all-or-nothing approach, it's do-or-die. And Sasuke and Naruto, everything else aside, want to be ninja. Like I said."

"So, you think that solved the problem?" Kakashi asked.

"Doubt it," the woman said as a waitress brought a teapot and four cups over before retreating. "Sasuke's still got a chip on his shoulder. Right now there's a perception among the genin that Naruto's strong because he killed a chunin."

"I'd worry about it going to his head, but he also lost a teacher," Asuma ruminated. "Should we do something about that?"

"I say let it slide for the moment, as long as he doesn't become too prideful or arrogant about it," Kurenai suggested. "That incident - how many bunshin, attacking Mizuki? I think he's coping really well, all things considered. Everything else aside, Shino and Shikamaru seem to be very good influences on him, and they've certainly bonded."

"Now to get those bonds between everyone else," Anko noted. "So, what's your plan for tomorrow's test, Kakashi? I know you're putting them through hell, but what are the specifics?"

"I can't really go with the bell test, since we're using the all-or-nothing approach," Kakashi said with a shrug. "I could try it against the first group, but everyone else would know it wasn't legitimate."

"That is the _dumbest_- Kakashi, did it ever occur to you that a test that one hundred percent of all people fail might be a bad test?"

He pointedly did not look at her, instead setting down his cup. "The tea here is nice," he remarked. "But you know, that test - and those bells - are passed down from the Hokage himself. The team that first passed his test went on to become the sannin."

"Really?" Anko seemed mollified, mulling the idea over for a long while. She broke her silence _just_ when Kurenai and Asuma began to relax, saying with surprising venom, "That means you're even lazier than I thought. Plus, on a personal note? That last passing team had one _hell_ of a problem student."

Kakashi blinked, realizing he had unexpectedly wandered into that vary narrow - but very real - zone of information that Anko did not like to review. Seeing that it had very little to do with teaching the current genin, he quickly decided to let the matter drop.

"You've made that point - instead I'll give them generic hell. Attack all their weak points, toss them around a little bit. Tell them their strengths need work and their flaws are crippling," Kakashi explained. "The general task of breaking them down."

"I'll build them back up," Kurenai agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hmm... If Kakashi is going to be handling most of the practicals - taijutsu, offensive strategy, and defensive skills, then I'll bring a focus on coordination, conduct, and chakra manipulation. Asuma?"

"To be honest, I'm thinking meditation for the whole lot," he said with a shrug, prompting a number of suspiciously raised eyebrows. "Name one student that wouldn't benefit immensely from more mental calm, internal focus, and indeed, chakra control - aside from _maybe_ the Aburame boy," the man challenged.

Silence met that statement.

Clearing his throat, Asuma continued, "We can go over philosophy, technique, and defensive strategy. I know what was said in our last meeting, so on account of the fact that it may seem I'm trying to reach for a lighter workload - tell them to meditate and then kick back - I'll also volunteer to handle any supplementary training for overflow if one of you two decides a student needs some one-on-one."

"That sounds fine to me," Kurenai allowed.

Kakashi nodded, wondering, "How long do you suppose before they start to figure out what we're up to?"

"I think Shikamaru suspects already," Anko remarked, grinning when the waitress came by with a tray of appetizers. "Their little 'Chibikage' is kinda cute, huh?"

The copy ninja pondered that, while the other jounin snorted, Asuma passing the platter closer to the center of the table.

"How the hell do you eat around or through that mask, anyway?" the special jounin wondered, looking at Kakashi's empty teacup in mild surprise.

"Do what?" he asked with feigned absence, tasting one of the dumplings. Hmm, this place wasn't actually too terrible.

* * *

Shikamaru had been willing to take at least temporary leadership of the genin team he thought he would be in charge of. The upper administration basically looking at the outbursts the day of Iruka's death and insisting that all nine do something to overcome their petty childishness... Okay, even _he_ wasn't immune to that; he'd tried to cuss Kiba out, effectively.

And then Kiba had been the bigger dog and not mentioned it today - or he just hadn't caught the insult the first time through.

Still, having de facto responsibility for all _nine_ students resting on _his_ shoulders...

The only thing worse than having to bear that burden was the fact that he wouldn't be comfortable letting it rest anywhere else - especially after Shino had voted with Naruto.

How lame was that?

He led his cohorts to his house, walking around to the training area and hanging his head. "Shino-kun, you have some sort of way to tell if people are coming close by to listen in, right?" he asked.

The bug-user nodded, a stream of kikaichu pooling around his feet and then dispersing in all directions - occasional small clouds of them drifting out from his sleeves and flying in all directions. After about a minute, they seemed to vanish into the shadows, hiding in the knot-work of the training posts, beneath the lawn, and in the leaves of the overhanging trees.

"The area appears clear to my senses," Shino reported.

Naruto watched the pair with growing impatience.

"Alright," Shikamaru determined, moving to a clear spot and spreading his stance, then bending low to grab his ankles. Yoga and various stretching routines were a good way to unwind. It didn't hurt that many of his family techniques benefited from improved flexibility. Going through a routine would be better for clearing his mind than playing a strategy game just then. "I'm putting two and two together, here.

"From what I can figure, the sensei squad is playing a game with us - kind of. It's meant to train us to be better ninja," he added, before Naruto could protest. But then, the orange-clad boy had taken to biting his tongue and being more watchful lately. An all-around positive trait. "So, we lucked out - for today. Kurenai is 'good-sensei'. Judging by Kiba's observation and what I know about him, Asuma is going to be 'indifferent-sensei'. And naturally, from what you know and Sasuke's seen, Kakashi is going to be 'bad-sensei'."

"'Bastard-sensei'," Naruto interjected.

"Perhaps," Shino allowed, crossing his arms. "Strange training. We can guess then that we will not be allowed to choose our own teammates regularly."

"Not if the point is that we either all fail or all pass," Shikamaru agreed, rolling to lie on his back, then slowly working towards a shoulder-stand. "So, we need to basically be the top team - the three of us. To make this really work, we need to take charge of the situation, prove we're able to see through the plan - and then are willing to work with it and do it even better. This means we actually need to figure out what everyone's weak points are, and then fix them as best we can - all of them."

Naruto shook his head. "That sounds _really_ complicated," he moaned.

"In principle, it will require only a willingness to become better ninja - unlike Sasuke, who views his teammates as obstacles, we must see them as assets that we can improve until we find them reliable," Shino proposed. "To this end, you must learn how to determine the flaws of your allies."

"Huh?"

"This is actually going to be fairly easy," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "We'll take small steps, right? First of all, we need to become better ninja ourselves. It's all well and good to say, 'We're perfect, we just have to bring everyone up to our level'. But if there's one thing I know, it's that overconfidence is prelude to an unwanted beat down."

Naruto scowled, crossing his arms over his chest as he nodded slowly, before he blinked in distraction. "My bunshin just dispersed," he said in bemusement. "Huh."

Shino turned to regard Naruto, showing mild curiosity. "Was the library infiltration successful?" he asked.

Naruto looked embarrassed. "I started reading a book about go, because of what you said a few days back - but I got really bored and switched to a storybook. Uh ... but it had too much kanji and was really hard to read, so I went back home and took the formal uniform you loaned me to the cleaners, since I was worried about messing it up in the machine."

Shikamaru blinked. "It didn't do what you wanted?" he asked, fighting down a smile. That was actually kind of funny.

"Yeah!" Naruto said plaintively. "That sucks! I want my bunshin to learn useful stuff, not get bored and decide to do something else!"

"I get the feeling they're just like you. Really focused for a little while - so great in fights, but the books... Hmm, yeah, you may need to work at that."

"More bunshin tomorrow," Naruto decided. "At least one of them should be able to stick it out."

"Are you concerned about the librarian wondering why several of you are entering the building?" Shino questioned.

"Huh," the smaller boy mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Okay - better idea - I'll have them practice henge to get in as different normal people."

"Well, you seem to have a pretty good lead on improving your knowledge-base," Shikamaru acknowledged. "Let's start figuring out a plan to improve all of our other abilities. This is where more of your bunshin are going to figure in."

Naruto brightened immediately, grinning. "Okay!" he said, nodding. "Just say what we need!"

"First things first - we need to start figuring out how to make the most effective usage of your bunshin - you can make a lot of them, so the more mileage we can get out of them, the more effective you'll be. Shino, you up for some sparring against Naruto's bunshin while I try and plan?"

"Indeed," Shino agreed, nodding at Naruto. "I do not know the strength of your bunshin. Should I attempt not to damage them?"

"Nah," Naruto decided after a moment. "If I get what you're saying - you managing to hit one hard enough to send it back to me should help me figure out where _I'm_ screwing up on my defense, right?"

Shino nodded again, then took up a basic defensive stance. "Against your bunshin, I will not hold back," he warned.

Naruto grinned and moved to a sideline. "In a way, that's gonna make this kinda fun," he noted, making a hand-seal and popping another dozen of himself into existence. He moved past them and jumped up atop one of the nearby training poles, surveying the battleground from above. "You," he declared, pointing at an arbitrary bunshin. "Go to it!"

The indicated bunshin cried, "Alright! Let's make this count!" and charged wildly at Shino.

Shikamaru sprang back to his feet and nodded before swiveling his hips, rotating his arms and twisting his body as far as he could. His head was turned away to the sounds of a bunshin being dispersed into puffs of chakra, and Naruto's muted, "Aw, man... Okay, you!"

Anyway, now that putting together working teams within the rookie nine were going to become more than just a thought exercise - more than anything he needed an adequate overview of everyone else's skills. He swiveled the other way, briefly glancing the remaining bunshin, beginning to look mildly reproachful of their impending fate.

"Hey," Naruto warned, "only one way to get better, right? I've got dozens of this to look forward to!"

"Here's another of the thousand steps!" one of the bunshin declared suddenly, clenching his fist with stoic resolve and joining the fray.

"Thousand miles," Shino corrected, after dispatching another bunshin. "It appears that your taijutsu relies more on the strength of your numbers than your individual skills."

The remaining three bunshin grunted sourly, and Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "My strong suit is I can take a hit and keep on going!" he protested.

"That may be true for you," one of the bunshin noted. "There _is_ a thing about us only being able to take one light hit."

"But even with that, my taijutsu times a thousand is enough to take down Mizuki, right?"

"And," Shikamaru noted, standing up straight before arching over backwards, placing his palms flat on the ground and flipping into a handstand, "if you could work to improve that taijutsu to ten times that strength, maybe you'd only need one hundred bunshin - and then how powerful would your thousand be?"

"All for one," one of the remaining bunshin sighed, as Shikamaru rotated himself around so he could watch the pair again, his legs now pointing straight up as he viewed the pair upside down. The next two bunshin quickly were dispersed.

"Okay," Naruto decided, thinking for a minute. "I think it's better to not make too many bunshin for training against you. I can't share any of the stuff I figure out with the bunshin I just have waiting around. Though, one of them did point out something I should have thought of. And even though Kurenai-sensei didn't say anything, you've hit me more than I've hit you so far." He spent a moment seriously considering it, then gave a decisive nod. "I'll go with three bunshin this time."

Shikamaru's wrists began to tremble with strain, so he lowered himself into an inverted lotus, balancing his weight on his upper-arms and shoulders.

"That sounds sensible," Shino agreed.

Holding himself still, just breathing and watching the inverted battleground, Shikamaru tried to study the next combat.

The first new bunshin led in with a roar almost identical to the last dozen - only to drop beneath Shino's practiced straight-punch and then land a spinning kick to the Aburame boy's shin. "Ha, haha-" the bunshin gloated, before Shino quickly recovered, dispersing it with a counter-kick to the instep.

The next bunshin led in, using the same approach as always - but this time attempting a leaping spin-kick. Shino blocked with one arm, and the bunshin rolled away from the countering leg-sweep, then attempted another leaping attack. This time, Shino countered with a grab, managing to redirect Naruto's momentum and fling him off into the yard.

The bunshin screamed in terror as it flew headfirst towards the lawn - dispersing just before impact. "Good call," Naruto judged, shaking his head and rubbing at the back of his neck with a mild shudder. "Wow, throws are scary!"

"I know very few," Shino said modestly. "Again?"

"Yeah!" The last bunshin gleefully charged in as well.

Shikamaru felt that he was pretty sharp, generally. Shino made good observations, and who knew _what_ he could figure out with his kikaichu. Then again, Shikamaru reminded himself, Shino was fairly open, if quiet. He could just _ask_. Naruto would be the weakest link in learning through observation, which was a real tragedy. As far as Shikamaru could tell, Naruto had the most potential of any of them - information was power, and Naruto was only barely realizing he could arm himself in such a way.

Still ... with enough time, and Naruto's help - there should be a way to get all nine of them qualified before settling onto the team he preferred.

"Say, what are the 'Twelve Guardian Ninja'?" Naruto wondered, creating another trio of bunshin.

Shikamaru snickered, straightening himself out to stand upright. "A project for your library bunshin tomorrow - see if you can find out," he suggested. Probably more constructive then telling him he'd know if he'd paid even as much attention in class as Shikamaru.

"Oh! Good idea!"

A bigger issue ... if all of them had somewhat weak taijutsu, who were they supposed to go to in order to fix that? And why hadn't Kurenai mentioned taijutsu as an area that Naruto could improve in, as well?

* * *

"This was a challenging analysis," the medical ANBU remarked quietly, drawing back from his work. He shook his head, his porcelain mask reflecting red scales where a fish-shaped mark swam down towards his mouth. Before him were the rather difficult to identify remains of the former Konoha ninja - Mizuki.

The Hokage could try and tell himself that the man was a traitor, but he'd grown up in Konoha. His family had been part of Konoha. He'd trained in the academy, and Sarutobi himself had been there to witness his chunin promotion. And then ... trying to kill Naruto?

"And?" Ibiki asked, sounding somewhat bored.

"I am relatively certain there were no physical seals on his body - unless they were hidden in some fashion," the medical ANBU judged, picking his tools up and setting them carefully on the tray, preparing to pack everything up. "No concealed explosives or chemicals. No significant traces of kekkai genkai. Some mild traces of combat drugs - nothing to account for radical behavior change."

Ibiki nodded, stepping out of the small room and leaving the masked surgeon alone with the remains - there was nothing left except disposal, at this point. The Hokage followed, not needing any more time. The two walked quietly all the way back to the Hokage's office where Inoichi and Shikaku were already waiting.

"No physical signs of coercion," he notified them, taking a seat as Ibiki waited patiently in one corner, and Shikaku grunted, hands on his hips.

Inoichi gave a terse nod. "He had few close friends - Iruka was supposed to be among them," he supplied. "Even among people who happened to know him, we've yet find anything to indicate why he would have done this."

"And no signs he received a bribe or was even planning on leaving town," Shikaku agreed. "Currently, all evidence suggests he spontaneously chose to do this, and expected to stay here."

"But ... why?" the Hokage wondered. "So many chances to sabotage Naruto or do him harm in the academy, and then ... this?"

"We could have the boy's watch increased," Shikaku said doubtfully. "It may be an isolated event, but I can't yet discern a deeper meaning behind such an attack... It could really be as simple as Mizuki thinking he would somehow get acclaim - or maybe he wanted the scroll, and was planning on turning nuke-nin afterwards."

"I'm not really even sure how much the vast majority of that scroll is worth," Inoichi countered. "But then ... Mizuki wouldn't have had a way to know, either."

"I don't want to consider the matter resolved, but let's set it aside as inconclusive," the Hokage determined, nodding to Ibiki to dismiss the man. Once the interrogation specialist had left and the door was shut behind him, he noted, "You two both seem particularly unperturbed by this."

Shikaku allowed, "It's just a gut feeling, but I think this may be an isolated incident. Aside from that, my son has lately been spending more time with the Uzumaki boy - as I suspect you are aware."

"And this grants Naruto additional safety?" Sarutobi mused, frowning as Inoichi rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Not _that_, as much as I feel that Naruto will behave more with my son's influence," he clarified. "And somehow, Naruto seems to have gotten Shikamaru to show more interest in becoming a capable ninja, so that's a positive, as well."

"And your feelings on this?" he wondered, looking to Inoichi.

The fair-haired ninja sighed. "If this is about my daughter not ending up on the team we'd expected ... well, Shika made a valid point," he explained. "The 'known good combination' is fairly well 'known'."

"Even among our enemies," Shikaku added, shrugging. "I don't intend to demean the team - I was on one myself, and ... well, there were some close calls where we barely had the tools we needed to survive. I'm much more confident for my son when he's going to be forced to be cautious about this."

"It's different, and harder watching my delicate little Ino become a toughened kunoichi," Inoichi lamented. "But Shika is probably right, as always." He gave a forlorn smile. "Maybe another generation down the line, eh?"

"Perhaps," the Hokage allowed, climbing to his feet, trying to ignore the way his joints creaked. Embarrassingly, he hadn't previously thought to take the advice of some of his most senior jounin into account concerning their own children. He reached over the desk for his pipe and tapped it out, repacking it before thinking better and setting it aside. "I think I'll go for a bit of a walk," he decided, shaking his head. "Inoichi, Shikaku, thank you for your work today."

Both jounin looked mildly surprised, but shrugged it off, bowing as they left him alone in the office. He sighed, glancing outside at the dimming sky, then began the trek to street level. If his guess was right, Naruto would be headed to Ichiraku's for dinner - as he almost always did.

More than interest in seeing Naruto, he wanted to settle his own nerves over the upset of Mizuki's actions. Konoha prevailed - as long as it held the Will of Fire, he prayed that it would _always_ prevail. A glance up at the Hokage monument forced him to pause, looking at his successor's image with undisguised dismay. He loved Konoha dearly, but he'd tried so hard to find good hands to leave it in...

Not for the first time, Sarutobi wished that the yondaime had survived, somehow. Even if he couldn't have led the village, if for nothing else than his son...

By the time he reached the shop, the sky had gone completely dark, the stars twinkling overhead. As he expected, Naruto was sitting at the counter, happily talking about his adventures - learning better usage of his bunshin, it sounded like. That was a good sign.

"Hello there, Naruto," he greeted the boy. "You don't mind if I drop in for a bowl of ramen, do you?"

Even the civilian cook behind the counter recognized the Hokage, his eyes widening slightly. "No!" Naruto said, slightly startled, before he grinned. "Of course not! But what are you doing here, old man?"

"I'm here for some ramen," he said with feigned reproach. "A vegetable ramen, if you please - extra noodles and daikon."

"You got it!" the man behind the counter said enthusiastically, setting to work on his order.

Naruto bit his tongue until Sarutobi settled onto a stool of his own. "So," he pressed, "you gonna buy me some ramen, too?"

"Why would I need to do that?" he asked mildly, giving a soft smile. "Haven't you just finished three bowls?"

"Aw... Come on, give me something good!" Naruto protested, grinning. "I'm a genin - on teams and everything now, right?"

"For now," the Hokage agreed, nodding thanks as the cook's evident daughter offered him a cup of tea unasked. "Do you think you're adequately armed?"

"They still won't sell me explosive tags, ever since that bakery thing," the boy sighed, leaning one elbow on the counter and moodily stabbing the soup dregs with a chopstick. "And I think I have enough kunai for now. Plus, I can probably just have my bunshin throw kunai instead of doing it myself - never wear the real ones out, right?"

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Don't be afraid to use the tools you have," he noted. "After all - I was going to give you a new weapon, too..."

"A new weapon!" Naruto cried in excitement, his eyes widening. "Like, like - an awesome sword?"

Sarutobi couldn't help but chuckle as a steaming bowl of soup was set before him, and he took a moment to savor the aroma. Naruto's taste was surprisingly good - the cook here absolutely knew what he was doing. He made the boy sit in agitated, fidgeting silence until he'd had a few mouthfuls of noodles and daikon. Then he turned and solemnly said, "Something even more powerful."

"What? Aw! I can really use that!" he insisted. "Come on, come on - what do I gotta do for it?"

After a few more bites of his soup - and a few spoonfuls of broth, it really _was_ surprisingly good - he turned to give the boy a very long, judging look. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll trust you with this weapon ... but you must promise me that you will always use it for good - in service for Konoha."

"I promise!" Naruto swore eagerly, practically bouncing in place on his stool.

"Very well," the Hokage said, as with great ceremony he reached into the sleeve of his robe - and produced a slightly worn but very sturdy pen.

He was rewarded with Naruto suddenly sitting stock still, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

"What, not enough for you?" the Hokage chided, when the man behind the counter chuckled nervously. "Alright - just this once, I'll throw in something extra." From his other sleeve, he produced a blank pocket notebook.

Closing his mouth, Naruto instantly shot the old man an angry scowl- And then bit back whatever he was going to say, suddenly looking thoughtful. After a long minute he began to nod, his smile coming back, if slightly less enthusiastic. "You got me good," he allowed, taking the pen and the book. "But these really will be useful - I can write down page numbers and all of the really important stuff when my bunshin report back!"

"That's right!" Sarutobi agreed, privately surprised that Naruto hadn't thrown even a mild fit at being teased. That was a big step forward ... but then, losing his teacher... "Well, tomorrow sounds like it might be a big day for you - be sure to get plenty of sleep. I hope to hear that you're confirmed for genin later!"

"Yeah!" Naruto cried enthusiastically, giving the brightest smile the Hokage had seen on him since Iruka's death. "I will! Thanks, old man! Hey- Are you gonna finish that?"


	3. Chapter 3

Motivation Chapter Three

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

Shino found himself the first to arrive at the training ground for the morning test. He had planned to come early, not knowing what the day would hold, but thinking Shikamaru had most likely been correct. That thought in mind, he'd spent the entire morning after waking preparing special kikaichu. It wasn't a trick of their evolution, which would have been amazing, as much as he simply slowed their development after the larval stage.

This caused them to be more sluggish, but have a lifespan of up to an entire day after emerging, instead of the more typical lifespan of only a few hours.

Really, most of these bugs weren't going to be good for much but scattering, waiting, and then reporting back later in the day.

Then again, that was all he needed them for. He turned his attention to the remaining eggs that were in production, no longer suppressing their growth. He'd need more alert kikaichu to practice, and there was only one more probable site to leave kikaichu to scan. If they were the last ones to take the test of some other sensei, then the bugs wouldn't have another team to watch.

Naruto arrived next, nearly overshooting the training ground with an over-enthusiastic bound before abruptly collapsing to Shino's feet with a desperate gasp for breath. "Missed," he wheezed, "alarm," between pants, "hadda," still trying to get enough air, "run."

Shino regarded his more energetic would-be teammate and adjusted his glasses. From his position on the ground, Naruto gave a sheepish chuckle, already mostly recovered. A minute after that, Kurenai strolled into the training ground from a break in the trees - Shino's kikaichu hadn't spread out enough to catch her presence yet. Hmm. That balance of lifespan to energy might need some consideration.

The kunoichi held a large cloth-wrapped box underneath one arm.

The orange-clad boy popped back to his feet, looking around curiously. Pointing at the bundle, he asked, "What's that?"

"This is something for later," Kurenai deferred, shaking her head and patting the box before setting it atop a training post.

"Oh, well, where's Shikamaru-kun?"

A stray kikaichu released a pheromone chain that alerted Shino's internal kikaichu. "Here," he noted, pointing to a different break in the trees, as Shikamaru entered the training ground from the forest.

"Yo," he said with a wave, his other hand tucked into his pocket. "Thought I'd come in from the family land, since we were out this way. Am I late?"

Kurenai shook her head, giving the three a friendly smile. "You're all on time - and that's a great start! Okay, today, we're going to do a more in-depth consideration of your skills and skill-range - like we had yesterday, but with some light combat exercises. Ready?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered eagerly, echoed by Shino's more reserved, "Yes," and Shikamaru's tolerant, "Why not?"

Not seeing any reason to hold back, Shino demonstrated the full range of his skills for Kurenai - as did Shikamaru and Naruto. Shino created a kikaichu clone, which was able to escape Shikamaru's shadow-bind. The shadow-bind seemed to stop Naruto still - provided Shikamaru got Naruto, not a bunshin. And with enough bunshin, Naruto easily overwhelmed either of them.

The shorter boy nodded eagerly over the praise Kurenai gave him, and her advice that finesse would carry him further than brute force. Not that different from what Shikamaru and Shino had deduced themselves. Interestingly, when Kurenai turned to address Shino and Shikamaru's own weak points, Naruto pulled a notebook from one pocket and began scribbling furiously.

So far, his ability to articulate holes in Shino's own defense during practice was fairly poor - but he was more than willing to spare a bunshin or two to demonstrate it. Was he trying to learn how to express his critiques better?

After Kurenai finished examining the genin, she explained that while she approved, they would have to satisfy all three teachers' requirements to pass. Her test ended up taking long enough that the three were treated to the sight of Sasuke staggering into the clearing, a gasping Sakura heaving behind him, and Ino stumbling from between the trees behind them to fall flat on her face with a moan.

"Our sensei," Sasuke announced, shooting a dark look across the other trio, "is trying to kill us." He looked down at his own outfit, completely covered in mud, then glanced to Ino, no better off, and Sakura, absently pawing pine-needles from her hair.

"We should be on our way to Asuma-sensei, then," Shikamaru noted, watching Naruto look at Sakura with obvious worry.

Shino agreed, and then the three had to run one third of the way around Konoha to their next meeting with a teacher. The next training ground was much like the last, and their first introduction to the large, reserved looking man.

Now that he was aware of it, Shino glanced at Asuma's sash, seeing the color and the symbol for 'fire' on it. Asuma raised an eyebrow at the trio as they came to rest, Naruto recovering from the flat run most quickly. "Welcome," he said, nodding at them. He finished the cigarette he was smoking and waved a hand, the brand inexplicably vanishing.

Giving them all a discerning stare, he introduced himself, giving a short list of his own traits - as they had all practiced before.

They returned their own introductions, unchanged except for the omission of Shino's ambition to some day join ANBU. That was something he trusted Naruto and Shikamaru with; he hadn't told Kurenai, and he doubted he would tell Kakashi, either.

After hearing them out, he lectured them at length about the code of Konoha - especially the need to exemplify the virtues required for admission into the academy. Naruto looked bored to the point of frustration, but kept his complaints to an indistinct mutter while taking more notes. Asuma seemed slightly amused by the behavior, and otherwise didn't remark on it.

After _that_ was a much _longer_ lecture about the Will of Fire. Asuma expertly snared Naruto's flagging concentration by pointing out that in Konoha's history, every Hokage to date had burned with the Will of Fire, as should any true ninja of the hidden village.

Then came another surprisingly monotonous lecture about inner peace and meditation, followed by a slightly more uplifting explanation of how it would help them as ninja. Applications included resisting interrogation (with time, Shino could have his kikaichu deaden his pain receptors - and if required kill him and devour his remains to prevent capture - an unfortunate disaster for any ninja who wanted to investigate _that_), awakening from sleep at predetermined time (kikaichu could do that for him), increase awareness of the surroundings (Shino monitored his kikaichu, continually reporting the various pheromone feeds from around him, relaying all the information that his scouts had gathered), and mental clarity.

Shino found enough time during the extensive idle discussions to produce another generation of his longer-lived, slower kikaichu and cover the area - though he suspected they would have nothing interesting to report. Very little of what Asuma said was new to Shino, but he listened with half an ear and nodded respectfully, amusing himself by inspecting individual kikaichu and local insects for signs of mutation - or any advantageous evolutions.

The genin were dismissed - and told to get some lunch before meeting with the last sensei for the day. Shikamaru's home was the designated fall-back position, so they retreated there for lunch - at the cost of another grocery shopping 'mission'.

"So, we know that Bastard-sensei's going to give us hell," Naruto said, once they'd made themselves comfortable, each seated atop a different training post while while eating. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Endure," Shino answered.

Shikamaru grimaced, staring down at the tray on the ground, holding their empty bowls and chopsticks. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, "We can expect him to be mean - he's the 'bad-sensei', after all. Instead of giving anything away, let's just play dumb - see what his position is and what he does."

Naruto gave a glum sigh, slumping slightly. "I wanted to kick his ass," he grumbled.

"He will use that anger against you," Shino noted, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"I can see this being a real pain," Shikamaru grumbled, uncrossing his arms and lacing his fingers behind his head. "It's probably a lesson about real ninja enduring, like Shino-kun thinks."

"I should try and keep my temper, then," Naruto said unhappily. "But he's _such_ a _jerk_!"

"Then, try losing your temper anyway," Shino suggested.

Naruto looked confused, glancing to Shikamaru to see if he thought it was a good idea.

"Maybe," Shikamaru allowed. "We could try and be smart - get Naruto to henge some of his bunshin as us, but I expect he'd punish us for being too clever. Hmm. No, I don't really see a better solution than going in and seeing what he wants."

"I don't think I'll ever forgive that guy if he makes it so we can't qualify," the orange-clad boy grumbled. "Back to the academy... I don't want that!"

Shino frowned, considering what Naruto said.

Shikamaru made a thoughtful noise, then shook his head. "Don't let it go to your head, but if they're doing all of this, I think they pretty much already _have_ decided on us."

Nodding at the boy who had made the logical leap first, Shino added, "The question remains as to why they have decided not to tell us."

"Wait, they already want us?" Naruto asked, surprised and confused. "But- Yeah, why _did_ they choose not to tell us?"

"I'm not sure yet," the shadow-user admitted, shaking his head. "They would think it was a good reason, obviously, but I don't know everything they do, so who's to say?"

"At this stage, we must gather more information before we can act," Shino noted, frowning thoughtfully behind the collar of his jacket. His kikaichu would give _some_ extra information, once he went to collect them after training was over, but he doubted they would learn much of use. "I agree with Shikamaru-kun; we should not reveal our hand. Instead, we should enter the encounter and pretend we know nothing."

"Reveal our hand?" Naruto asked worriedly, before shaking his head and scribbling in his notebook again. "Alright - how do we do that?"

"Easiest way?" Shikamaru asked, raising his eyebrows. "It'll hurt."

"I can do it," Naruto said stubbornly. "I can take hits!"

Shino had a suspicion he wasn't going to like what was to come... But then, if he couldn't get used to taking a few hits himself every so often, he wasn't likely to last long as a ninja. He wondered if he'd spent too many kikaichu already, realizing the new generation wouldn't be ready until after their next test had begun.

"Alright - then we walk into it thinking Kakashi's just a jerk, not some deranged genius with a plan to make us stronger in ways we won't understand at the time," Shikamaru decided. "Go ahead, lose your temper - make sure your taijutsu's really sloppy and out of control, so he thinks its genuine. I predict he'll beat the crap out of us - like with Sasuke - and then give us some speech about how he's impressed with our drive, but we need a lot of work."

"Yeah, okay, I can do that," Naruto agreed. "Hey - Shikamaru-kun, Shino-kun, give me the names of some good books to read about this stuff for my library bunshin!"

"Alright," Shikamaru allowed, amused.

Shino allowed a nod of his own, and the three began slowly walking towards their inevitable meeting with the 'bastard' sensei.

* * *

Shikamaru had one arm draped over Naruto's shoulder as they limped out of the training ground together. Slightly behind them, Shino had one arm over Naruto's shoulder as they likewise staggered back into town. Playing dumb _hurt_.

Bastard-sensei was an absolute _monster_. They didn't even make it into the clearing before Shino had turned to Shikamaru, starting to open his mouth in warning and-

Explosive tags.

'A real ninja is always prepared for ambush!'

They regrouped, dazed and shaken, but only bruised. Shino's scout kikaichu tried to find Kakashi, and were met with some wide-area fire jutsu - which had made the bug-user the first one to lose his temper, surprisingly. Shino's temper burned hot - and brief. After attempting taijutsu and getting two cross-punches to the face, Shino had reluctantly started using his kikaichu-clones - and in response, Kakashi had started hitting harder, swiftly draining the Aburame boy's chakra reserves and kikaichu.

For his part, any _number_ of Naruto's bunshin seemed to run at Kakashi from all directions, and all were swiftly dispersed. Shikamaru didn't have a ranged option, thanks to his allies, so tried his clan-jutsu.

That had been worthless. The second Shikamaru had felt Kakashi in his shadow's grasp, his dark chakra completely surrounding the ninja ... Kakashi simply used kawarimi to replace himself with Naruto. Infallibly, he would get the _real_ Naruto, too, resulting in the shadow-bound boy getting beaten by at least a dozen of his clones before they realized their error.

Shikamaru decided to just give up and sit down-

Explosive tags.

'No breaks on the battle-field!'

He tried some taijutsu of his own, and got thrown into Naruto a few times, and bunshin dozens of others. For 'not being able to take a hit', dispersing them through impact felt almost as painful as the real article - and Shikamaru had a good sample to form a scientific basis for that, now.

So, for a while, Shikamaru had tried more desperate, wilder punches and kicks, hoping he could maybe-

Explosive tags.

'Sloppy work creates more openings!'

Shino went down first, collapsing to slide on the dirt face-first, his glasses tumbling off. Shikamaru felt a real spark of fury then - so he tried to play even dumber, going for his kunai and using Naruto's bunshin as cover to quick stab at Kakashi's weak point.

Kakashi was _mean_. No explosive tags, this time. Instead every would-be lethal strike was instantly met with kawarimi - leaving Shikamaru wondering how many times Naruto would have to remember being shanked in the kidneys by his teammate, thanks to his bunshin. There was no doubt Kakashi was choosing bunshin to take the really damaging attacks - and Naruto for almost anything else.

What god-damned business did _kawarimi_ have being such a powerful _offensive_ jutsu, anyway? Sure, he could see how Naruto had taken Mizuki down with his bunshin, now. Well, that was a chunin, and Kakashi was a jounin, so he kicked their asses soundly with nothing more than taijutsu and a few E and D rank jutsu, just because he _could_.

It only got _worse_ once he started regularly using henge to look like Naruto.

Shortly after that, Shikamaru went down, and then, as though it were a formality - Kakashi grabbed the real Naruto by his heel and swung the boy overhead, slamming him to the ground between Shino and Shikamaru - before another wide-area jutsu that Shikamaru didn't even _see_ wiped out all of the bunshin and left Naruto cross-eyed and mumbling.

Once Shino regained consciousness and Naruto recovered to the point where he could swear again, Kakashi greeted them brightly:

"Good morning, my cute little students!"

Then he listed off his likes and interests - all of them being pretty much, "I don't feel like telling you," followed by _their_ likes - and information that they'd never told any of the others. Shino had been a sleep-walker when he was younger, which was mildly surprising, but Shikamaru couldn't see the relevance, other than to point out that Kakashi had dug information up on them. Naruto had been caught peeping in area bathhouses to master his 'sexy' jutsu not very long before graduating the academy, which was not very surprising at all, despite Naruto's outrage. Finally, he told the other two that Shikamaru was terrified of his mother.

Well, he could admit he hadn't gone to great pains to hide that.

Then said the most horrific thing that Shikamaru had ever heard:

"I know I won't need to ask _you_ three to find your killing intent, so now that we've properly met and finished warming up - let's see how you do in a _real_ fight!"

He shuddered at the memory, grateful to be leaving the training ground behind him, hoping the sun would at least dry the mud - where had Bastard-sensei found mud, anyway? Shikamaru was _positive_ there wasn't a river nearby, or they would have tried washing. But mud? The teacher had probably used a water jutsu they hadn't seen - _just_ to throw them all in mud puddles.

"I think I might hate that man," the Naruto assisting Shino determined.

Shikamaru painfully twisted back to look at the pair, causing the Naruto with him to grunt in pain - but not disperse. Shino's glasses were back in place, one lens scratched badly, and one supporting arm of the frame snapped off.

"Like...wise," Shino groaned, wincing as he hobbled along.

Swiveling his head forward hurt just as much as turning it in the first place. "Where to?"

"Back to Kurenai-sensei's training ground," Naruto spit out, still propelling Shikamaru ahead.

"Did he ... knock you ... unconscious?" Shino wondered.

"Came close a few times," Naruto grumbled. "But not today."

"Did you fight him the entire time?" Shikamaru wondered.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "You said to lose my temper."

Shikamaru was confident he had spent more time unconscious than awake ... but Naruto had been creating hundreds of bunshin, almost constantly. It was an _ocean_ of orange, surrounding their party at all times ... but never enough to down Kakashi. How much relative time was that?

"Did you ... observe anything ... about him?" Shino rasped.

"He was holding back," Shino's assistant bunshin groused.

The Aburame boy loosed an annoyed grunt of his own, the three falling silent until they reached the clearing their 'testing' had started in.

"And I'm pretty sure that I fought harder, not smarter," Naruto added.

Shikamaru gladly collapsed onto the lawn, realizing only after the fact that steady streams of Kikaichu were climbing across his body. He thought about complaining, but then decided that if Shino's bugs weren't worried about his breathing, he should just let his teammate's partners do their job. Shino stood on his own when the bunshin with him dispersed, seeming to recover strength as his kikaichu returned.

Interesting.

A few minutes passed, while Shikamaru actually began to feel somewhat recovered. After that, Shino gave a terse nod and led the way back one more time - all the way to where they had met Asuma. More kikaichu began filtering back to the bug-user, while Shikamaru and Naruto sat on the ground.

"Well?" Shikamaru finally asked.

"Kurenai-sensei's package contained food and medical supplies," he determined. "While my kikaichu cannot relate specific conversations, it does not appear that any team's experience differed significantly from ours."

"I just realized," Naruto said slowly. "If we had Kurenai-sensei first ... then _every_ other team got to test with her after 'bad-sensei'."

Damn - he was right. Shino nodded, grimacing. "Speaking of them - we're late to meet with the others," Shikamaru warned. "If anyone asks, why are we late?"

In one voice, tired and irritable, Shino and Naruto answered, "Sensei is a bastard."

* * *

Hinata waited anxiously at Senzo's - the evident meeting place for the rookie nine, now. At least, both Kiba's team and Sasuke's team had been sent there by their respective sensei. And, what a nightmarish experience that was! Naruto hadn't been exaggerating - Kakashi was _terrifying_!

Everyone so far had gone home and taken a shower before coming to Senzo's - seemingly a requirement, really, with how messy Kakashi's 'testing' had gotten. Surely ... Naruto's team wasn't _still_ testing with the cruel sensei, were they?

When she scanned across the others - all of them at least bruised or scuffed from Kakashi's handling, except for the surprisingly resilient Choji - she thought she saw signs of anxiety in them, too.

Sure enough, the team she was waiting for staggered through the doorway, prompting Sakura to gasp quietly, and Ino to spit her tea back into her cup in surprise.

Shino appeared to have a blackening circle even larger than his dark glasses forming around one eye, his lenses were scratched and hanging at a funny angle, his coat was torn in several places, and he walked with a slight but obvious limp. Shikamaru was worse, one cheek swollen, both eyes darkened, and one wrist wrapped in a heavy bandage.

Between them, Naruto looked scuffed almost beyond recognition. His hair was almost uniformly gray, instead of the usual gold, and his clothes were reduced to little more than filthy tatters, as though someone had dragged him repeatedly across a field. He'd washed his face and hands, and the looser dust had been shaken out...

That only served to make the trail of dried blood from his nose more obvious, though. She cringed at his other bruises, and Kiba yelped, "I thought he was rough with _us_!"

"We got special treatment on account a' good behavior," Shikamaru replied, frowning as he probed at his jaw with one hand. Groaning, he collapsed into a seat and- Yes! The seat next to Hinata was still open - Naruto might take the spot between her and Shikamaru!

Shino lurched towards the table, angling to sit down, and she fought back a wave of disappointment before the boy suddenly stood back up, and she realized he had actually almost _collapsed_. He struggled another step to the other seat and-

Hinata felt the entire room warm by just under a thousand degrees as Naruto sat down next to her, groaning gingerly. "I think he really liked us," he said smartly, forcing a grin he couldn't possibly feel.

"Well - did you pass?" Sasuke demanded impatiently.

"Yes," Shino answered. "It appears that for now, we are confirmed genin." He paused. "Unless any of you were failed by a sensei."

Everyone quickly shook their heads - though, Hinata was astounded she survived Kakashi's ordeal, not much uplifted by his statement that he approved of her drive. Especially since he said she still needed a lot of work after that! Still, if they had endured worse...

"Then, we've made it," Choji said, obviously relieved. "Only ... now what?"

"Now," Kakashi said, appearing suddenly behind the large boy in a puff of chakra residue and clapping one hand over Choji's shoulder, "we decide how tomorrow goes! So- Kiba, Choji, and Shino, my cute little students, you're with me! Sasuke or his girlfriends can tell you where to meet!"

Humming jauntily, Kakashi trotted out of the restaurant without waiting for a reply. The chopsticks in Sasuke's hands splintered. "Sensei is a bastard," he spat.

Asuma walked in only a moment later, nodding at Senzo before stopping at the table. "Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, you'll be training with me tomorrow - Hinata can show you where our team meets up," he announced, before turning away faster than they could reply. Naruto and Sasuke offered eerily similar grunts in response, eying one-another warily.

Hinata tried to restrain her smile to merely a pleased curve, not the manic, delighted grin she truly felt. She was going to be on a team with Naruto-kun tomorrow! "It's by the small park in front of the Hokage tower!" she told Naruto happily. "Beneath the ginkgo tree."

"And logically, that puts me with ... hating my life," Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples.

"What do you mean?" Ino asked, frowning.

"I'm just ... going to savor the quiet for the moment," he grumbled in response, flagging down a waitress and ordering something for himself, Naruto, and Shino. "Shino-kun, I seriously would switch places with you if I could tomorrow."

The Aburame boy adjusted his broken glasses slightly at that, giving a solemn nod.

For a heartbeat, Naruto looked about to say something, but instead he shook his head and pulled a notebook from within his tattered outfit, miraculously unscathed, and began scanning across whatever was written there.

"Well, I'm done," Sasuke said, somewhat annoyed. He rose and left a handful of ryo at his place, marching out the door.

"Where are we meeting up, Ino?" Kiba asked, frowning.

"That bridge by the park about a block from my family's shop," she answered glumly. "I think you and Naruto put a trap-door in it once, a few years back?"

"Oh, yeah, that was a good prank," Kiba mused.

"Except for the part about just cutting a hole in the bridge instead of putting in a trap-door," Naruto countered. "I _told_ you installing new stuff would take too long."

"I'd complain more about you two, but Kakashi-sensei threw me into that river yesterday," Ino grumbled.

"Bastard-sensei," Naruto, Shikamaru, and Shino corrected in one voice.

Ino blinked, then nodded, cheering slightly. "Yeah, okay - Bastard-sensei."

"I like it - rolls off the tongue," Kiba agreed. Choji nodded reluctantly once the other boy elbowed him, nearly dislodging Akamaru.

Sakura sighed and hung her head. "I'm going to pretend you guys made me start calling him that, if it comes up," she warned.

"If what comes up?" Kurenai asked, stepping in through the doorway with one eyebrow raised.

"Er- Nothing," Sakura said quickly, blushing. "Um, hi, Kurenai-sensei!"

"Hi!" she returned, just as cheerfully. "Well - Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, and Shikamaru-kun - you'll be with me tomorrow! Shikamaru knows where we'll meet, don't you?"

"Yep," Shikamaru answered, staring intently at his bowl of noodles as it was served.

"Well! I hope we all have fun tomorrow!" She smiled at all of the students and waved before walking away.

"I just realized!" Ino started, once Kurenai was gone. "I'm stuck on a team with the queen of foreheads again!"

"Shut up, eyebrows!" Sakura snarled, glowering.

"Welcome to a preview of my tomorrow," Shikamaru sighed.

* * *

Naruto was surprised at how tired he was. He always recovered quickly, and he'd thought his energy was inexhaustible ... but it somehow seemed that he'd managed to find some new, deeper level of tired to achieve. Not ... _sleepy_ exactly, as much as his _head_ felt like it needed to rest. He wondered what that meant, but then, it got lost somewhere in the ... very, very long battle with Kakashi.

How long were they fighting? Not long after they'd finished their soup, and Ino, Choji, Kiba, and Sakura had left, Naruto turned to face Shikamaru at a question the genin leader had asked. "Library bunshin?" he repeated.

"Yeah - what happened to them when Bastard-sensei used whatever it was to disperse your bunshin all at once?" Shikamaru pressed.

That was a good question. It wasn't like he could feel his bunshin, though - once they were out, that was pretty much it. He hadn't gotten memories _back_ from them, at least... Well, there had been the pair that had gotten dispersed for other reasons - one was playing around trying to balance on a clothesline before falling to an alley. Another had tried practicing one henge too many and been jumped by ANBU for suspicious behavior.

Hopefully it wouldn't be traced back to him, at least.

"If they behaved," he said, "then the eighteen that are left should disperse at exactly five."

Shikamaru quickly checked his pocket for a small timepiece. "So ... less than a minute. Okay, let's see what happens."

He nodded, realizing that for some reason, Hinata was still with them in the restaurant. Hmm, he hadn't said a proper greeting to her yet, had he? He turned towards her say-

An entire day spent in the library ... yeah, only one bunshin would probably tough it out, but if he ever wanted to learn anything from the library, he'd need to that one and pick something to read. Grabbing an arbitrary book without any real idea of what he should look for, the first title he picked up was 'The Classic of Tea' by-

Senzo's restaurant was still around him, but-

An entire day spent in the library ... probably, only one bunshin would be able to stick the entire thing out. If he wanted anything useful from the library, he was going to have to stay, though. They had books about learning things in general, right? Since that was a weak point, he went to find some assistance, quickly getting a volume of unfamiliar kanji. Well, crap. Okay, he'd spend the entire day with that and a dictionary-

Shikamaru was still shaping some syllable of something, as-

He had a special purpose when he went into the library. He was the last bunshin sent in, and really, the only one who had specific instructions on what to read. It wasn't too hard to find a shelf with a relatively slim book titled, 'The History of the Twelve Guardian Ninja'. That would at least let him know what the heck it meant that Asuma-sensei used to be one of-

Shikamaru's gaze rose from his timepiece, the last sound of whatever he said just finishing-

_Just_ going to the library was boring... And reading about _go_ was boring. Still, it seemed to be one of those generic 'smart people' things, so he'd buckle down and make himself finish the book he'd set aside yesterday. Maybe he could learn enough to provide a challenge to-

For whatever reason, he was looking up at the ceiling, Shino's face peering down at him intently - glasses fallen off, revealing his eyes... That was new. Had Naruto seen those before? There had to be a reason he was-

He really wasn't looking forward to spending the entire day reading. Partially because reading was hard, and partially because it was _boring_. He finally settled on what seemed like a good compromise, a young adult story with helpful furigana to teach him those annoying difficult kanji. That wasn't so bad, in the end-

Shikamaru was looking down at him from above, too, though his face was turned away as he called for something-

And then the rest of the memories returned.

* * *

Hinata was horrified - things had seemed to be going so well! She was sitting next to Naruto, and for tomorrow, at least, would even get to be on a team with him - and then he suddenly got a strange look and tipped over in his seat, straight back onto the floor. She was stunned, frozen and unsure what to do when his two friends dropped to his side, trying to gauge his wellbeing before Shikamaru turned and called for medical assistance.

Oh, kami - was Naruto _dying_? She wasn't sure where Shino went, only that he'd made room for her to kneel at Naruto's side and take his hand, patting his wrist nervously. Was there anything she could do? She gathered her focus, activating her kekkai genkai without a second thought, scanning Naruto's body and chakra for any sign of disturbance.

She couldn't register any - or anything else she recognized as a sign of poor health. Her eyes lingered on the seal on his stomach, radiant with chakra, but no, that was fairly normal for Naruto.

"H...Hinata-chan?" he croaked, seeming to come out of his fit, peering up at her in astonishment.

Then his eyes shot wide and he sat up straight, suddenly sweeping her into a hug. "Hinata-chan!" he cried more happily.

"What," Shikamaru managed before Naruto spotted him.

"Shikamaru-kun!"

Hinata was so happy, she didn't even _mind_ that Shikamaru was included in her first hug with Naruto!

"Air," Shikamaru finally wheezed.

"Ah," Naruto realized suddenly, letting go of both of them. Hinata reflexively checked Shikamaru's lung capacity and blood-oxygen levels, since her byakugan was still active. By her calculations he could have endured at _least_ another thirteen seconds of that hug!

"Oh, _man_ was that a bad idea!" Naruto chuckled, making her heart stop. "All those bunshin at once!" Her heart restarted- Okay, it wasn't her...

She looked around, startled to realize that everyone around them was staring with something bordering shock.

For some reason, Shino had knocked over someone else's table, smashed apart a chair, covered himself with someone else's food, and then decided to just lie there. Part of her mind registered that a perfect line ran from where she had been sitting, her current position, and Shino.

"O...oh, ah- T...this is my fault, so please let me pay for the damages!" she blurted out, as soon as the aged proprietor came in from the kitchen, looking around in surprise.

She hurriedly apologized again, handing over nearly half of her weekly allowance - why had Shino broken that furniture, anyway? Well ... he probably just panicked when he was worried about Naruto - like she had. Still, she couldn't let him pay for the damages; she felt somehow responsible.

Senzo didn't really seem to mind that much, but accepted the money, assuring them that ninja of the leaf were always welcome regardless.

It wasn't until she was outside with the other three that she let herself take a shaky breath and ask, "W...what was that?" To her enhanced sight, nothing had changed. Naruto was the same as ever, still a radiant beacon of chakra. Beyond that? He looked dizzy, and she could see his heart-rate was slightly accelerated.

Naruto squirmed a bit, but then haltingly explained how kage bunshin worked - and that he'd sent some to the library. "So," he concluded, "eighteen of them managed to stick out the whole ten hours and then reported back at once, is all."

Shikamaru blinked and did some quick math. "Naruto," he said with a frown, glancing around the street, "that's- That's a full week of time and then some, reading."

"Yeah," he said slowly, frowning. "I think the problem was it hitting me all at once - though, when I was on the floor it suddenly felt like I'd actually been _gone_ that long without even ... you know ... seeing any of you guys." He chuckled weakly at that, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment before fumbling for a notebook and hurriedly writing down a sequence of book titles and page numbers. "Yeah - aiming for twenty is probably way too many - I think I'll tone it down to four or five, and make sure they don't disperse all at once."

Hinata was momentarily speechless, finally releasing her byakugan. Naruto ... suddenly taking an interest in the library? A sudden inspiration hit her, and she offered, "U...um, you know, i...if you're studying for something m...maybe I could help?"

"Maybe!" Naruto agreed, laughing uncertainly.

"Maybe take a break for a bit," Shikamaru mused, raising an eyebrow. "Hell, you just spent a week studying. Relax - do whatever. But like you were told, don't overdo it."

"I feel _really_ tired, but like it's all in my head," Naruto mused, frowning. "Honestly, I think it felt longer when we fought Bastard-sensei."

"It may be wise to sleep," Shino noted. "There will be time for more study later."

Hinata felt her hopes dashed once again.

"Yeah... Yeah - that sounds like a good idea," Naruto agreed, nodding. "You can come by tomorrow before I send my library bunshin out, Hinata-chan!"

"O...oh, okay," she agreed hurriedly, feeling elated once more - so much excitement, being around Naruto! She thought her heart was about to burst! "W...where do you live?"

"Well, follow me, I'll show you," he said, grinning. "Come on!"

Feeling like she was floating, she nodded eagerly, wondering where he got the energy to run if he were so tired.

* * *

"Well," Shikamaru drawled dryly, watching Naruto lead Hinata as they trotted away, "that was interesting."

"An observation," Shino remarked, frowning, looking down at his arm, where his coat had been torn.

"What's that?" Shikamaru mused, thinking about Naruto's experiences. How long until _he_ had enough chakra to make a kage bunshin?

"Hinata is capable of hitting harder than Bastard-sensei has elected to strike me so far," Shino said, raising his gaze.

Shikamaru blinked, glancing around the street again. "Really?" he asked, despite the fact that he doubted Shino would lie to him.

The other boy gave a solemn nod in response.

Shikamaru tugged at one earring thoughtfully. "She seems to really like Naruto-kun, too."

"Obviously."

"Not to him, though. We'll have to share a good laugh at his expense once he figures it out," Shikamaru noted.

"Agreed."

Hah - he _knew_ Shino had a sense of humor in there somewhere. "Until then, I'm willing to bet that she could teach Naruto-kun a thing or two about taijutsu."

"A family style?" Shino asked doubtfully.

Oh, right. _Damn_. No wonder it seemed like such an obvious solution. "Hmm. That won't really do, then."

"We are seeking a taijutsu instructor?" Shino asked.

"Kind of a side-project I've been considering," Shikamaru allowed with a shrug. "Basically, just trying to figure out who Naruto can practice with when we're doing training on our clan jutsu."

Shino nodded slowly at that. "Perhaps merely giving firmer direction with his bunshin?" he suggested.

"Yeah - that's probably a good start."

* * *

Anko had spent most of her day watching Kakashi train his students. She'd really meant to follow Shikamaru around covertly - see what her cute little 'Chibikage' was up to. Kakashi had evidently either decided not to watch out for the kage bunshin she'd left watching his training grounds, or she had been _that_ good at sneaking up on him.

She was confident it was the former.

That meant that she had to strain her chakra reserves to make an extra bunshin to watch over Shikamaru, and then run all the way around Konoha to Asuma's team to tell the bunshin _there_ not to move after all. Anko being Anko, that meant that she naturally was ambushed by her own bunshin - playfully, of course, since she couldn't fight back without wasting all that chakra.

So she got to Kakashi's training ground in time to watch him fling two kunoichi and the Uchiha heir around. The genin wouldn't spot it, but Kakashi was playing safer than they thought; his own kage-bunshin were throwing water jutsu beneath the young ninja before they hit hard packed earth. Mild pain and some humiliation, instead of just raw pain?

Not what she was used to, but she supposed that even _one_ of the genin being killed meant the project would be a failure, and the Hokage would be ... displeased. To say the least.

The practical upshot of all of her efforts was the fact that as far she knew, she was the only one among the teachers with a bunshin to catch the Chibikage's team's extra scouting work. Now _that_ was impressive - not that there was anything for them to actually _find_...

She thought Kakashi should be proud of that; those three weren't content just to try and see underneath the underneath - they were trying to tear the underneath's head off to peer down its throat.

Despite what she had told the other teachers, she really wasn't sure what to make of the the other students, though. On the other hand ... if the Chibikage's personal team were dead-set on trying to fix the teamwork flaws in the rookie nine, well...

She was shaken from those thoughts when she reached her apartment, frowning to realize the door was unlocked. A kunai impaled on her door pinned a note in place - Kakashi's handwriting, followed by a simplified, unreasonably happy version of his own face in lieu of a signature. The message was a simple, "Can I have my book back?"

Pursing her lips, she wrenched the kunai from her door and absentmindedly pocketed the note.

Yeah ... she supposed she _did_ owe him the book back. She'd gotten a hell of a lot more fun out of it than she'd originally expected.

"Alright," she said, swinging the door open. "I finished reading it, so you can have it back. Now, what are you doing in my apartment?"

The legendary copy ninja was sitting on her sofa, flipping through a magazine with one hand, while the other held a carafe of sake. "I don't have my lucky lovely kunoichi summoning book?" he asked, tilting his head to one side slightly, seemingly fixed on the magazine.

"Flattery will get you quite a bit," she replied, closing the door and settling onto the couch next to him before pulling the book from her coat. "Kinda makes me wish I had my own place in the mountains."

He nodded absently, neither looking or reaching for the book.

Annoyed, she tossed it onto the table. "You can't get sympathy from me if I have no idea what you're beating yourself up over," she warned.

"It doesn't really shine ... but that doesn't make it less true," he mumbled in response. "Not truly."

...that was different.

She had the strangest feeling that whatever he had said, it was one of the most truthful things he'd ever said. Was Kakashi _drunk_? He was staring at a very bland advertisement for a new soft-drink - and Anko had a very hard time imagining him caring about that.

She leaned close to him to sniff his breath curiously, but crossed some invisible boundary that roused Kakashi from his distraction. His visible eye flicked to her, and then away. "I was thinking of reading a bit," he said in response to her nearness. "But I might be persuaded otherwise."

Not betraying her alarm, she gave him a dubious stare. It was one thing to play cat-and-mouse with Kakashi - but this sudden change in demeanor from 'tolerant indifference' to 'submissive acceptance'... Something felt _wrong_ about it.

He didn't smell enough of alcohol for her to believe he was really impaired - and he was a ninja, anyway. Like most, he probably had techniques to control how much liquor affected him, or at the very least, he could probably sober himself up in a few seconds.

So, what was he doing?

With a sudden flash of insight, she realized he had no one else to share his problems with. Gai wouldn't _really_ understand - though he'd genuinely _try_ to cheer Kakashi. Then again, even if he'd - as much as he seemed capable - reached out to her for help, she didn't know what to do any better than the manic, taijutsu-obsessed jounin.

She didn't really feel like playing guessing games, so instead said, "I'm going to take a shower. You know where my bed is." She paused at the entrance to the hallway, looking over her shoulder. "I can't really say I know what's going on with you. The best I can offer is to make you forget for a few minutes. So ... you're welcome to join me."

* * *

When morning came around, Hinata found herself awake early. Since she found herself with so much energy, she decided to just set out ahead of schedule. Of course, Naruto hadn't really thought to give her a specific _time_ when she should come by his place. Then again, she didn't want to come over _too_ early.

She settled on what seemed to be a compromise. If she went over before he was ready, well, she could just offer to do something to make it up for him! That thought in mind, she jogged quickly to the market district by Naruto's apartment, scanning the stalls that were just opening and quickly rounding up what she thought she would need.

After that another jog through the lifting mists, and she skidded to a halt at the stairs leading up to his apartment, grocery bags in hand. She reached his door and paused. If she _was_ too early, she wouldn't want to accidentally wake him up when he needed his rest. He'd just had a difficult practice with the terrifying Kakashi yesterday, after all!

Really, in the interest of being polite, she took out lock pick set she kept tucked behind the leaf symbol of her hitai-ate - though, she wore hers as a collar. With her kekkai genkai active, the security on Naruto's apartment door was trivial. Very carefully, she eased the door open, one ear towards the apartment to listen.

She could distantly make out the sounds of very light snoring, and allowed a satisfied smile to cross her face.

Good - she wasn't going to risk being a bad guest!

After letting herself in and looking around, she studied the floor-plan. The front room was divided into a kitchenette and a living area - which was almost completely devoid of furniture. A few wall-hangings provided some decoration - the leaf of Konoha, the spiral symbol that she didn't recognize that Naruto wore on his arm, and a surprisingly elegant sample of calligraphy reading 'happiness', signed by the Hokage.

Nodding to herself - and reminding herself that she was a ninja - she stealthily approached the kitchen.

After busying herself with some chores that Naruto had most likely been intending to do shortly himself anyway, she judged it clean enough to actually prepare food. Now, time to get to work!

She had timed it so that between everything else she was doing to keep herself occupied, the meal would be ready at the same time as Naruto's alarm clock was set to go off. Of course, using her kekkai genkai to determine the time the alarm was supposed to go had revealed quite a bit about Naruto's room - still, she reminded herself, it was okay. She wasn't actually _going_ into his room, or anything.

Just _looking_. To see when the alarm clock was going off.

And absolutely not peeking around at other things along the way.

What cute pajamas!

She wrenched her attention back to the stove, forcing those thoughts away. After she'd dismissed her byakugan, the extra blood seemed to flow straight out of her enhanced nerves and into her cheeks, and then just settled there.

Just under a minute before the alarm should have gone off, she heard a mumble from Naruto's room. It was close enough - she turned off the stove and crept to the door to listen. He was whimpering a half-formed protest, and she just barely made out the name of Iruka. She felt her heart constrict, and tears well in her eyes. Poor Naruto - suffering a nightmare...

She wished she could help, but it wouldn't be proper to go into his room - she was an heiress to her clan. It was improper to the extreme! To say nothing of the fact that he might not appreciate her presence there. And, anyway, the alarm would go off in a moment and rouse him-

Except ... it couldn't, because she shut it off and sat carefully on the side of his bed, cautiously touching his shoulder and whispering his name as she gently tried to rouse him.

"...nnn-HA!" he started, eyes shooting wide open, and then closing, as he heaved a deep breath, his hand reflexively grabbing hers. "Ung..." His other arm rose and flopped across his eyes, his face twisting into a grimace.

For a heartbeat, he was still. Then he mumbled, "Whoza...huh?" Uncovering his eyes, he blinked up at her quizzically, still holding her hand. "Hinata-chan?" he asked in bemusement.

"Y...yes?" she stammered uncertainly. Oh, dear - he wasn't liable to think this was a dream, was he? How embarrassing that would be, if he tried to take advantage of her-

"You're in my room?"

"Ah," she started. "Y...you were having a nightmare, I thought, and..." Well, what was a good explanation for this? As if in answer, the oven-timer dinged, and she haltingly offered, "I w...was making you ... breakfast?"

He blinked again, releasing her hand, then sat up and dragged a hand through his hair, dislodging the cute sleeping cap. Oh ... oh dear. She hadn't gone too far, had she?

"That's awesome!" he exclaimed suddenly, grinning. "Thanks, Hinata-chan! You're amazing!"

* * *

Naruto felt bad for Hinata. She'd gone out of her way to come over and surprise him - and evidently she'd gotten up so early she just immediately fallen asleep after waking him up to eat. Poor girl - he'd always thought she was kind of quiet and weird, but then she'd offered suddenly to help him study...

After getting up, Naruto moved Hinata's prone form closer to the center of the bed, so she wouldn't fall off. He stepped into the living room, squinting at the floor. Then at the kitchen table. Then the kitchen itself.

He couldn't even make _cup ramen_ without somehow generating dirty dishes and getting the kitchen messy. How the hell had Hinata managed to make all that food without making _any_ mess?

Staring at it didn't make it go away ... so it wasn't an illusion. He _was_ a bit hungry, but it felt rude to start without her. He decided to let her nap while he took a shower.

In his remarkably clean bathroom.

When did that happen?

After he'd dressed in clean clothes he didn't remember washing, he stepped out of the bathroom, not terribly surprised to see Hinata already up again, blushing profusely as she pulled out the chairs at the kitchen table. "Did you clean my entire house?" he wondered.

For some reason, she looked guilty when she nodded.

"That's really cool!" he told her, grinning. "I must have been out of it - or else you've got awesome ninja skills!"

"Y...you must have been very tired," she said almost instantly in response.

"Nah," he said, once she served him a plate. "If you can do that - and cook this good - you're pretty awesome!"

The girl looked simultaneously elated, and as though she were trying to find some way to refute the claim. For a moment, he thought she was going to insist, somehow, that it wasn't good enough, but she finally squeaked out, "T...thank you, Naruto-kun!"

Yeah, he thought he was starting to understand this girl... She seemed genuinely nice - like she wanted to help people. He supposed she was just really shy. Well ... he didn't really know what to do about that, but he could try being her friend. Heck, they were going to be teammates anyway!

"Say, Hinata," he began, once he'd finished eating, while she was still working on her own meal. "Come to think of it... I guess it's a bit strange, having you over like this."

She blinked, looking confused and strangely paler than usual.

"Er - but then, that's my fault," he added quickly. "Yeah! Uh, we should be friends, shouldn't we?"

"Yes!" she shouted without hesitation, eyes even wider. "Er- Um! Yes," she said, somewhat more calmly, trembling for some reason as she smiled. "F...friends! S...so that this is not strange, r...right?"

"Hey, I'll let you come over to make breakfast for me any time!" he assured her. He would, too - the strange magic that transformed ... _things_ from the market into genuinely edible _food_ was just alien to him. Cup ramen was the only thing he felt competent to prepare, and that usually ended up messy _anyway_. "Heck, shaking me out of that nightmare - I should say thanks for that, too!"

She looked ecstatic, and he felt pleased with himself, glad he'd finally figured something out on his own. There - Hinata had wanted to be friends with him, and now they were. One step closer to a better team - and then being free of Kakashi's reign of terror. In fact, with Hinata around, he was sure he'd be able to keep from snapping at Sasuke. That was pretty cool, too!

It was already shaping up to be a pretty good day. "So, tell me, Hinata-chan, how do you get good at studying, anyway?"

"I- Hmm?" Hinata responded, blinking several times, her cheeks strangely pink. Maybe her breakfast was too warm. "Oh! Y...yes! Right! Um, t...to start with, what are you studying?"

Come to think of it ... that was actually a pretty good question.

"I don't know ... but some day I want to be Hokage - so anything that will help me with that!"

* * *

With reluctance and some resignation, Shikamaru plodded towards his inevitable doom. The coddling, soft-hearted teacher and the two most delicate kunoichi in - not just the rookie nine - the entire genin class. He was going to be surrounded in misery.

It was only when he arrived at the meeting place - intentionally one minute late - that the true sadistic genius of the plan began to sink in.

Because, as he was going to suffer, so were Shino and Naruto. By Kakashi or Uchiha, their collective sensei had decided to ensure that the road to becoming a ninja was fraught with pain.

Kurenai and the girls turned to look at him as he strolled up to the group. "Sorry I'm late," he drawled.

"That's fine," their teacher assured him, giving a friendly smile. "One minute for training isn't too bad."

Ino and Sakura looked less than convinced, but said nothing about it, turning their attention to the teacher.

"So, what are we doing today?" Ino wondered, scratching her head.

"Today we will be discussing conduct," she said.

Of course, Shikamaru realized sourly. No chance of learning something genuinely useful.

"That'll help the next time B- Kakashi decides to throw us around," Ino remarked.

"That's Kakashi-_sensei_," Kurenai corrected.

"Er, how does this help us become better ninja?" Sakura wondered.

"Because there are certain codes of behavior we adhere to, and before you advance as ninja, you must understand how to behave around your superiors," she clarified. Then she paused, holding her hands together thoughtfully, before she smiled again. "Well, you can do more than just listen to me lecture you. For practice, let's see how long you can maintain the leaf concentration exercise while we talk!"

Oh, _hell_.

Shikamaru had spent long hours - probably _days_ - in the academy with Naruto, Kiba, and Choji doing that stupid exercise. If Iruka hadn't-

Ooooh...

He had to give Kurenai points for subtlety. He'd been expecting the attack against his spirit to come from an entirely different direction.

Huh. Maybe he could learn something from her, after all.

"Sure," he said, when Sakura and Ino looked dismayed.

Kurenai beamed a smile at him, then handed over a leaf. He pressed it against his forehead without hesitation and sank to sit in a meditative posture, tilting his head slightly back.

"Just like old times?" Sakura teased him, as she and Ino took their leaves and sat nearby.

"He doesn't have a chance of beating you - but with so much forehead, maybe you should have _two_ leaves," Ino heckled.

"Bite me, eyebrows!" the pink-haired girl retorted in a growl.

"Oh, yeah," Shikamaru muttered, focusing his chakra on the leaf. "You guys are doing _great_ at conduct - say, do you remember who taught us this exercise?"

Both girls shot him surprised looks before falling completely silent, the reminder defusing their argument before it could properly heat up.

"Much better," Kurenai said, when none of the students spoke for a full minute. "Now - there will be a test on this lecture once we're finished, but keep those leaves in place!"

* * *

Asuma surveyed his charges, standing around him in a semicircle - all of them on time. Hinata and Naruto had arrived together, the girl blushing and stammering - unreasonably cheerful for someone who had endured Kakashi's training only a day ago.

He nodded at that thoughtfully, mentally confirming who Hinata's 'certain person' was. Kurenai's observation on that count had been spot-on - unsurprisingly.

Sasuke had arrived very shortly after, looking completely indifferent to his teammates and simply waiting expectantly for Asuma to speak.

Naruto and Hinata said nothing once the other boy came into visual range.

Even though it was time for the lesson to begin, he remained quiet. He had a pack of cigarettes, but given time, like the present, he preferred to roll his own. While his students watched him expectantly, he very slowly went through the process, covertly studying their reactions.

Sasuke hid his impatience, waiting. Naruto quickly got bored of watching him and looked around aimlessly, obviously fighting an urge to fidget. Hinata altered between trying to steal glances at Naruto and watching Asuma uncertainly.

Eventually, he finished rolling the brand and brought it to his lips, hiding it from their sight as he used some simple chakra shaping to create a spark in the tip. Come to think of it, with a sharingan and a byakugan among his students, he probably only really hid it from Naruto.

No matter.

He waited until his cigarette was finished and Naruto appeared to finally be on the verge of speaking before addressing them. "Today," he intoned solemnly, "we shall learn to breathe."

Sasuke was unimpressed. Hinata seemed accepting. Naruto looked annoyed.

"Follow," he ordered, turning and leading the trio out of the park where they met up, and to a calmer place. Not quite a park, just a secluded, undeveloped corner of Konoha, along the bank of the river. At other times of the year, it would be more scenic, but year round, it was quiet.

"Sit," he commanded.

His students did as instructed.

A fallen tree-branch provided a good stick, once he snapped off a few unneeded twigs. "First, to breathe, you must maintain posture." He walked around them in slow circles, prodding Naruto first in the upper arm. "Sit up straighter," he instructed. "Relax your shoulders."

Sasuke watched intently, adjusting his own sitting posture to match Naruto's, and Hinata did the same.

"What does sitting have to do with breathing?" Naruto grumbled, adjusting himself as per Asuma's demands.

"Everything," he answered, carefully explaining nothing before he went to Hinata. "Too much tension," he informed her. "Relax your elbows and hands."

By the time he got to Sasuke, the boy's posture was almost right. "Chin lower," he advised. "Relax your neck.

"Now," he instructed. "Close your eyes, and let your breath be the breath of the world around you."

Before Naruto could ask, he explained, "The measure of your breath should be constant. Focus on that more than anything else - drive all distractions from your mind and think only of your breathing. Regular breaths - in for the count of three, out for the count of four. The entirety of your awareness should be on your breathing and nothing else."

"Then what?" Naruto protested.

"Then, stop thinking about that, too."

It only took about ten minutes for Naruto to verbalize the frustration he could sense in all three of them. "Why is it so hard _not_ to think?" he grumbled, seeming to be completely stymied by the concept.

"I would have thought _you_ would have a gift for that," Sasuke shot back, unable to resist.

Naruto made an annoyed sound in response, but didn't otherwise rise to the bait. Hinata gave Naruto a sympathetic look before eying Sasuke dubiously, which he ignored.

Asuma rolled another cigarette and watched his charges obediently try to meditate. Hinata was keeping her movement minimal, but was still betraying tiny involuntary twitches - and stealing constant peeks at Naruto. Sasuke's eyes were closed, but for all of his taunting - he was focusing almost exclusively on Naruto. Likewise, the orange-clad boy had no real chance of achieving any kind of inner peace while he kept trying to pay attention to Sasuke without opening his eyes or being obvious about it.

He was confident that they'd spend the entire day trying - and failing - to meditate.

That was fine, though. They needed to understand how far they had to go before they could earnestly begin that journey - and as far as he could determine, these three were the ones who would need help focusing the most.

Time to test them. While seeking peace, they found everything that prevented them from achieving it. "Hinata - what is on your mind?" Asuma asked suddenly, startling all three of his students into opening their eyes.

"Ah, um- My father," she blurted out, seeming dismayed at herself for speaking.

"And what is he doing?" Asuma asked.

"T...telling me I'm an unworthy heir," she mumbled, bowing her head and looking away.

Naruto gave her a confounded look fit to rival his earlier ones.

Asuma nodded knowingly and sent them back into meditation without further explanation. When he judged the interval of time was enough for them to at least become distracted, he targeted Naruto next.

"Naruto - what is on your mind?" he prompted.

"Mizuki," Naruto answered with a grimace, shaking his head. Unsurprising.

Though he suspected the answer anyway, Asuma pressed, "And what is he doing?"

"H...he's dying... Begging me to stop stabbing him," Naruto answered, his voice shaking. Hinata bit back a sympathetic gasp, completely abandoning all pretenses of meditation. "G...guess that must have been one of the middle bunshin to get there... Not the last few hundred, though ... he couldn't talk so much by then." A flash of irritation crossed Naruto's face and he bowed his head, staring at the ground past his knees.

Asuma gave the same knowing nod, hiding an internal wince. Kurenai would be best to field that one, probably. More worrisome was the undisguised fascination Sasuke showed at the few words Naruto had allowed.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind what was coming next, so Asuma waited until it would have been reasonable to stop for lunch before deciding that Sasuke had become as 'settled' as he would for this exercise. He prompted Sasuke, just as the others.

His response was a clipped, "My family."

"And what are they doing?"

"Nothing," he answered. "They're dead." Another total lack of surprise, there - the fate of his clan was known to everyone.

Asuma gave the same knowing nod in response. "Rise," he commanded the students.

They watched him warily as they stood, stretching out stiff joints and looking around for some clue of what would happen next. He turned on one heel and led them up the bank to the street, and across the road to his favorite barbecue restaurant. He especially liked the outdoor seating, so he could watch his students while smoking - without bothering anyone else too much.

"Are we going to be doing a lot of this as ninja?" Naruto asked somewhat plaintively.

Asuma waved a hand as a waitress approached, indicating his regular order for himself and students. Not that he'd actually had a meal with this particular group of students, yet. "What is a ninja, Naruto?" he asked patiently.

"We're ninja," he answered, confused. "I mean... Is this about the Will of Fire and serving Konoha? The codes and stuff we have to always follow?"

"Before any of those things, a ninja is a person, Naruto."

The boy sighed at that, seeming to dismiss the answer as nonsense, instead focusing on the table before him as the waitress returned, setting a dish of teriyaki beef and stir-fried vegetables before each of them.

Asuma took one last draw from his current cigarette, preparing to launch into a lengthy lecture. "You see, Naruto," he said, suddenly acting as a companionable sensei, instead of behaving as an elder monk to his initiate, "meditation is about understanding. Eventually, you'll be able to understand the world around you in more clear and practical terms.

"To understand being a ninja better, you must understand yourself better. You are a ninja. Before that, what are you?"

"A ... person?" he asked warily, glancing at Hinata to see if she had a suggestion.

Sasuke began eating silently, though he at least looked contemplative.

"That is one answer," Asuma allowed. "To progress, you must learn to stop thinking. There are two aspects of meditation, and they will strengthen your mind if you can master them both."

"What are they?" Sasuke asked immediately.

"Serenity or tranquility - the ability to maintain composure. Insight or focus - the ability to attain wisdom with internal clarity."

"B...but what does..." Hinata began before cutting off at being the target of three gazes. "Um... H...how do those questions you asked us fit into this?"

"Those are the thoughts that occupy your mind and prevent you from achieving clarity," Asuma explained. "Things that you must overcome to improve your ability to meditate - and to be better ninja."

Sasuke grunted at that, pushing his empty plate away. Naruto gave a morose sigh and produced his notebook, asking, "Are there any good books about meditation you can suggest?" Sasuke gave Naruto a very strange look at that, and for whatever reason, Hinata seemed slightly cheered.

Asuma kept his expression neutral, answering, "A great many."

Naruto frowned at that. "Well ... which are the best ones?" he pressed. "If I have to figure out this inner-peace stuff to be a better ninja, what's the fastest way to do that?"

Smiling softly, Asuma shook his head. "To master the no-mind state, you must learn to ponder questions which cannot be answered."

"Huh?"

"Consider this, Naruto - if a tree falls in the woods, and no one can hear it, does it make a noise?"

"Yeah," he answered, nodding. "I'm pretty sure it does."

"Why?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, then thought better of it. After a long minute of thought he complained, "I don't know - it makes a noise when people can hear it fall, so why wouldn't it just because no one is around?"

"Ah, you have answered the question," Asuma noted.

"That didn't seem very unanswerable," Sasuke mumbled.

"Sasuke, a wheel is a hoop - yet it can bear all the weight of an axle no matter how it turns. Where is the strength in the wheel?"

The Uchiha heir blinked, struggling to process the question - looking for an answer.

Hinata looked between the two of them, then down to her untouched food. Naruto sighed and began to eat, shaking his head.

"And Hinata - an empty vessel is made of simple clay. Where is the value in it?"

"Yeah, Naruto got an easier question," Sasuke grumbled.

"Is that so?" Asuma asked, leaning closer to the Uchiha heir with an amused smirk. "What's your answer, then?"

"The shape?" he guessed, his expression doubtful.

"I see ... and Hinata?"

"T...the value of the vessel is the ... empty space within it?" Hinata posed haltingly, looking fearful of his response.

Asuma was nothing short of amazed - she'd actually figured it out. He doubted she'd really achieved a no-mind state to come that far, but that didn't matter. She'd puzzled through it anyway, even while appearing distracted by Naruto and Sasuke.

"Naruto, your answer is incorrect," Asuma noted.

"It doesn't make a sound?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Also wrong!"

Sasuke released an irritated snort, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. "There's no correct answer, then," he judged.

"And for the third time ... wrong," Asuma declared, shaking his head. "There are correct answers - like Hinata's."

"Then what's the right answer!" Naruto demanded, setting down his chopsticks and pushing his cleaned plate away.

"For a ninja, the answer is - it does not matter. The tree has fallen."

Naruto made a sound of disgusted despair, dramatically dropping his head to the table. "Meditation _sucks_," he whined.

"Good - you are losing your illusions and preparing to approach enlightenment."

"Fine," Sasuke said crisply. "If the strength of a wheel isn't the shape, what is it?"

"The wheel is a community, Sasuke. It is a circle - with nothing in the center, it falls apart."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but he refused to rise to the bait and ask the obvious question.

"The strength comes from the spokes - small supports that cross the void and connect opposing sides of the same circle," Asuma explained. "However, even in the case of Hinata, who answered correctly, comes the issue of understanding. Hinata, what is the significance of the vessel and its worth? How does it pertain to you?"

"I...I'm worthless?" she asked.

Asuma bit back a sigh. How the hell had Hinata gotten through the academy with such shaky confidence?

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but Naruto sat up, shaking his head and looking at Hinata in confusion. "How can you think that?" he asked. "You were the only one who figured out their question! That-" He bit something back and said, "I couldn't figure mine out, so if you're worthless, doesn't that make me even less?"

"Impressive, Naruto," Asuma said. "You are learning to destroy the selfish ego and relinquish worldly bonds."

"Huh?"

"A joke," he assured the boy, rolling yet another cigarette. This one he tucked behind his ear for later, instead of lighting. "No, Hinata - you are the vessel, and your worth is the potential you have to retain knowledge. All men and women are made from the same worthless clay; our value comes from the experiences we become filled with."

"Oh!" she exclaimed a slight smile coming to her lips.

"So, we're done and we can move on to the next part of our training, right?" Naruto asked, almost desperately.

"Correct," he agreed. "Next, we shall return to the riverbank and meditate in utter silence. Your question is this: What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

The orange-clad boy groaned, adjusting his hitai-ate with resignation after Hinata pushed her plate away, finished.

"Follow," Asuma instructed after rising, slipping back to the role of senior monk tending his acolytes.

* * *

The assembled rookie nine collected at Senzo's once more. Shino, Choji, and Kiba looked significantly worse for wear, the rotund boy seeming to have taken the least actual damage. Naruto winced in sympathy for Shino - how many of those coats was Kakashi going to ruin?

Bad enough that Naruto had to use his backup orange jacket...

"Well," Sasuke grumbled in a frustrated tone, "did anyone else have fun?"

"Training was mind-numbing," Shikamaru answered without hesitation, staring bleakly forward.

"How bad could it be?" Kiba wondered. "Seriously - we were with _Bastard-sensei_. Try and come up with something worse than that!"

"Remember the leaf concentration exercise?" the shadow-user asked irritably.

"Aw, crap," Kiba sighed. "Well, what about Asuma-sensei, then? Was he at least reasonable?"

"Hey, Kiba - try to not think," Naruto called.

"Huh? What, acting like you?" he asked, smirking.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto waved the insult away, warning, "Sasuke already did that gag - and better than you."

"Damn, _nothing_ is going my way today!" Kiba whined.

"Yeah, yeah - but seriously. Spend a minute and try to think of nothing at all," Naruto said, unable to keep the frustration from his voice.

"Oh, yeah," Ino remarked, nodding knowingly. "Learning to blank you mind so that your conscious thoughts are suppressed is pretty hard at first."

"Yeah! It's totally- Wait, you know how to do that?" Naruto wondered, staring at the blonde in amazement.

"Figures that blondie knows how to empty her head on command," Sakura jibed.

"That's nothing," Kiba retorted, before Ino could reply. "I'll do it - watch!" Kiba closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Akamaru looking down at him with a remarkably doubtful expression.

Sasuke didn't even wait a full minute to ask, "So, what are you thinking about, Kiba?"

"Akamaru," he answered, opening his eyes. "Wow - that actually _is_ really hard!"

"It's easy once you get the trick of it," Ino assured them, smirking. "Maybe I'll help you guys out ... but not when Sakura's around. Since _she's_ so smart, she can figure it out herself."

"Well, forgive _me_ for not having a clan to give me those kinds of advantages!" Sakura snarled.

"Who knows?" Ino asked with feigned innocence. "Maybe you have an undiscovered kekkai genkai - or will make some sort of previously unheard of forehead-based jutsu!"

"Oh, that's _it_!" Sakura yelled, jumping to her feet.

Shikamaru squinted up at the lights in the restaurant, then suddenly threw both arms out - almost hitting Ino in the chest and Sakura in the hip, announcing, "Kagemane no jutsu ... successful."

"Shikamaru," Sakura growled, held still by the other boy. "Once I get out of this, I will _kill_ you!"

"Yeah, stop holding me back!" Ino snapped, both girls trembling, unable to move.

"Or maybe you two can stop making a scene in a public restaurant?" he replied in irritation. "Pardon me if I seem to recall an entire _day_ of training about proper behavior while _you_ two were busy sniping at one-another.

"Important update, girls - the teachers almost certainly _know_ you two hate each other. You're not going to be on different teams until you get over it. As your unwillingly elected leader, I'm afraid it's my responsibility to have to actually _do_ stuff if you get us into trouble. Don't make me do work."

Sakura and Ino both grumbled at that. Naruto felt more than a little bad for Sakura, but then ... _he_ got stuck on a team with Sasuke. Aside from which, Shikamaru was a cool teammate! He was pretty sure that if Ino and Sakura managed to stop fighting for a while, they'd probably realize that, too.

"Can it be assumed that you two will behave properly and not give our teacher cause to question our teamwork?" Shino asked, rising from his chair.

Sakura growled wordlessly, while Ino grimaced and grudgingly allowed, "_Fine_."

"Alternately, I will drain your chakra with my kikaichu." Shino paused, and even scuffed, Naruto was impressed with how intimidating he looked, tilting his head slightly and causing the dark lenses of his glasses to flash like angry mirrors. "Training with Bastard-sensei has caused them to become quite hungry."

"Okay!" Sakura cried. "Fine - but she started it!"

"That sounded like argument," Shikamaru noted.

"Okay, okay!" Sakura mumbled petulantly. "Just let me go, already."

Shikamaru grunted, and didn't _seem_ to do anything, but the girls were able to move again, Ino shifting her shoulders uncomfortably, and Sakura settling into her seat.

"So!" Kakashi asked brightly, appearing in a puff of smoke once more. "Who's this 'Bastard-sensei'? He sounds like a real motivator!"

Naruto bit his tongue.

"He makes me want to do things, alright," Kiba grumbled.

"Aw ... my cute little student misses me!" he exclaimed. Kiba sniffed imperiously, but Kakashi ignored him, reaching out to pat a surprisingly eager Akamaru. "Thank you, Akamaru, but I'm afraid tomorrow ... you'll have to be with another teacher."

Akamaru allowed a curious, slightly confused whimper in response.

"Hinata!" Kakashi exclaimed brightly, almost causing the shy girl to spill her teacup. "Tomorrow, your team will meet with me for training! Won't that be fun?"

"U...understood," she replied, blinking. "B...but, 'my' team?"

"Yep! See you tomorrow, my cute students!" He vanished the same way he arrived.

"I guess this gets us Asuma tomorrow," Shikamaru sighed. "I probably shouldn't complain ... one more day to avoid Bastard-sensei."

"Indeed," Shino said, tiredly sinking back to his seat.

Shortly after that, Kurenai showed up to announce that Shino, Kiba, and Choji would be going with her, confirming Shikamaru's guess.

"I wonder when they'll mix up the teams again?" Choji mused. "You probably know, right Shikamaru?"

"I can _guess_," Shikamaru allowed. "And my guess would be that every three days - one full rotation through our sensei - and then they'll mix us up again." He paused. "Unless Ino and Sakura keep fighting, in which case, they'll probably still be stuck together."

The girls groused at that, while Hinata shook her head doubtfully.


	4. Chapter 4

Motivation Chapter Four

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

"So, how was your first day?" Asuma asked, staring into the glowing tip of the cigarette he held idly between two fingers. The smoke rose in a steady, slowly widening spiral until colliding with some effect - probably the man's chakra shaping. Then it abruptly streamed away, out through the narrow crack in the window.

Kakashi wouldn't move his hitai-ate to check, but it seemed likely.

He was already angry enough at letting himself do what he had - succumbing to-

Well, waking up next to Anko, at any rate.

Asuma was seated cross-legged on the floor, across from the coffee table. Anko sat on the other side of the couch, and Kurenai stood to one side, sorting through a short stack of paperwork. He'd had exactly enough time to spring out of the bedding and dress, managing to look casually relaxed as he sat on the couch and flipped to a random page towards the back of the book.

Hopefully they'd believe he just chose to show up early to Anko's little surprise offer to host a morning meeting to discuss the genin group.

"The Aburame boy's stiff with his martial forms. Tactically he's a bit reserved. He doesn't show a lot of creativity," Kakashi answered after a moment. "For Kiba, too headstrong, needs to learn a bit of restraint. Right now the dog's relative frailty is a hindrance to him; in trying to protect Akamaru, he leaves himself with a lot of openings. At the same time, that's somewhat justified - Akamaru's development is just not quite where it needs to be to field serious combat. It's close, though. Akamaru's senses of smell and hearing are actually quite sharp, even for his family's nin-dogs. Give him another three months or so of growth and he should be fine. Until then he's primarily an asset for tracking, maybe fitting into very small spaces."

"You know quite a lot about nin-dogs, don't you?" Kurenai replied with mild surprise, looking up from the papers.

"I summoned the opinion of an expert," Kakashi replied dismissively. "Also as a suggestion - if you make Kiba do the leaf concentration exercise at some point, try to have him make Akamaru do it, too. Top of the nose, instead of the forehead."

Kurenai looked even more surprised and somewhat doubtful. "The dog can use chakra?"

"He's a _nin_dog," Kakashi answered, annoyed with himself for putting emphasis on what he thought should have been obvious. "For some of Kiba's later family techniques and to learn to speak human language, he'll _have_ to. Better get started on developing his chakra now, since he's not physically ready for more yet."

The red-eyed woman gave a grudging nod in response, both eyebrows rising.

Clearing his throat slightly, Kakashi continued, "And, as for Choji, he needs to work on his speed and stamina. Tactically, he's a follower - he doesn't show much initiative. On the taijutsu side of things - no one else can hit nearly as hard as him, or take a hit so well out of all the genin in his year."

"He hit you?" Asuma asked, his eyes flicking up from the cigarette he hadn't taken a single draw from.

Kakashi turned to Kurenai. "How about your students?" he prompted.

"Shikamaru worries me a bit," the kunoichi confessed, the hand holding her papers dropping to her side. "He seems surprisingly willing to take charge, given his profile... I'm not sure what motivates him. I especially don't like how suspicious he is of the current arrangement."

Anko shifted slightly, adjusting her position on the couch.

Asuma grunted, his gaze going back to the cigarette. How long had that thing been burning now, anyway?

"His impatience for members of the opposite sex added to Ino and Sakura ... well, you're going to have an easier time of it than me, Asuma," she said dryly. "Speaking of them - Ino and Sakura have certainly built up quite a bit of animosity. We all know _why_... That's their biggest issue right now. Leading directly back to Shikamaru again, well - he's aware of the fact that needs to be overcome and started moving the other genin towards it."

"Kid's so sharp you could cut yourself on him," Anko supplied.

Asuma grunted again.

"Precisely my concern," Kurenai replied with mild annoyance. "I had hoped to encourage Sakura and Ino without it coming down to their classmates threatening them."

Kakashi glanced at Anko, but the special jounin was biting something back, turning her gaze to Asuma instead.

"Hmm. We have been pushing the idea that if any of them fail, they all fail, so we can't say this is entirely unexpected. Still ... he seemed clever, but a bit quick to judge - at least on the surface," the former Guardian Ninja mused. "Perhaps slightly overconfident in his abilities to analyze his enemies and surroundings. That's more Kakashi's area to deal with in this setup than mine."

"So, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Naruto, huh?" Kakashi mused.

Asuma frowned. "Who said anything about Naruto?" he asked. "I think he would benefit more from Kurenai's attention than yours - though I agree he has serious combat potential, and seems quite motivated."

Kakashi didn't let anything show, just nodding. "Naturally," he agreed. "I had just been thinking of his past pranks-"

"Well, anyway," Anko interrupted with a shake of head. "Speaking of Naruto, what about the three kids you were watching, Asuma?"

Behind his mask, Kakashi bit his tongue. How the hell had he let _that_ slip? Why had Anko jumped to cover for him? He predicted that it was to better twist the proverbial knife later, and wasn't particularly looking forward to finding out.

Asuma grunted. "Let's start with Hinata, because she puzzles me. I don't know how she got through the academy, to put it bluntly. She's technically skilled, reasonably knowledgeable, and thoughtful instead of clever. That's offset by a nearly crippling lack of self-confidence," he explained. Lifting the cigarette up, he made a gesture, causing the entire thing - ashes and all - to vanish. Folding his hands in his lap before him, he continued, "Meditation will help her gain focus - at first, I thought that was a positive. It should still help even her out, but the truth of the matter is she's already focused to a degree I've rarely seen outside of a jounin."

"Really?" Anko asked, raising her eyebrows. Kurenai had turned to look at Asuma as well.

The man nodded. "Unfortunately, she became focused before truly being able to see the world around her - and as a result, her hyper-focus, combined with the byakugan... Her training being forced from a young age, if I had to guess at the root cause. In any case, if she can learn to widen her mental focus to match her visual focus, then I think she'll be much better off. I can give her clarity, perhaps, but I'm not sure what to do about her confidence issues."

"How much of this is thrown off by her crush on Naruto?" Anko wondered.

Asuma shrugged. "Quite a lot of it, I think. He seems to think she's friendly, but not really understand what that means."

"So, Naruto and Hinata," Kurenai mused. "As it happens, I'd like Naruto and Hinata to be friends. Naruto's oblivious to Hinata, and I'd like to try and keep it that way - getting into something... Well, that's an additional complication we really don't need right now. But as a friend and someone who has a hard time giving up, he does make a reasonable role-model to try and inspire some self-confidence of her own. Not the ideal way to do it, but in this setup it seems like it might work."

"Alright. Moving on ... Sasuke's obedient, but doesn't care for meditation beyond the fact that he was told to do it. He wants to get stronger - I'm concerned with his interest in Naruto killing Mizuki. I believe between myself and Kakashi we can probably wear that down, but I suspect he's going to be like you see Shikamaru - reluctant to open up to a woman." He turned to regard Kurenai and ducked his head apologetically. "How I see his views - not my own."

Kurenai made a dismissive gesture. "They are still learning to be ninja, not children," she allowed.

Anko shifted in her seat again, drawing her legs up onto the sofa and folding them beneath herself. Kakashi said nothing, himself, recalling becoming a genin at the age of five - and chunin at six. Then again ... that was a major part of why he'd been given the harshest teaching role among the three teachers. As for Anko... Where was she at that age?

He made a mental note to hit up an ANBU contact later and read her file.

Asuma didn't seem to notice Kakashi's absent musing, continuing, "As for Naruto ... I'm somewhat impressed. His wariness of Sasuke interfered with his ability to meditate, but he didn't seem to take it the same way as Sasuke. For him, it wasn't just going through the motions to satisfy his sensei ... it was something he had to learn to become a better ninja. I think the meditation will do him a lot of good. Outside of his issues with the circumstances behind his promotion, which would be Kurenai's specialty, I'd like to focus on him personally more than any of the other genin."

Kakashi tried not to acknowledge how that made him feel. He'd still be training Sasuke, at least - plus the general combat practices with ... well, all of the genin. And Shikamaru, a clan genin, like he'd originally asked for...

"Other than Naruto, since we've assigned rather a lot to Kurenai already, I believe that Kiba and Sakura would be my next two priorities. I believe that with some luck, I'll bring Kiba's temper to heel, and get Sakura to start looking underneath the underneath."

"Oooh," Anko remarked, blinking. "That would be one noisy team."

"We might try them out on a D rank in a few days," Kurenai allowed, lifting the papers at her side. "I spent a few hours last night combing through the worst and most heavily deferred D rank missions in the list. Minimal supervision required on these details. Ideally by the time we start sending them out, we can ostensibly leave them alone."

"Sounds like fun," Anko agreed, grinning mischievously. Kakashi supposed it would be fairly obvious to the genin that they were being covertly watched on those missions... Still, if anything slipped, they would know about it. Any outbursts of temper or genuinely dangerous activity, at any rate.

Kakashi was incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone. He hoped he could galvanize the two into some sort of alliance with his assigned teaching role, but he had few illusions about it - or how it would reflect on him, to the two students.

"So, what insight do you have to offer, in all of this?" Kurenai asked, turning her head to the younger woman when the copy ninja said nothing.

Anko shrugged, unconcerned. "Just that it seems like Choji, Ino, and Shino are getting the least attention."

"I'll take Choji into my purview, as well," Kakashi responded, nodding. Anko was right on that one, but it was fairly obvious in how little he had been mentioned. "I'm not really sure what to do about Shino, but it would be a shame not to hone the Akimichi boy's combat potential."

"Shino's well rounded enough, compared to the others - and Ino's always going to need to rely on her teammates. That's just an issue with her clan jutsu," Asuma noted. "For both of them, it would be best to avoid any additional area of focus. Let Shino work with his kikaichu, and Ino develop all of the skills that she needs aside from the Yamanaka techniques. We're all jounin, so we can all assist them.

"Beyond that? I say we work on the areas of focus we've established for the moment. We're mostly addressing weaknesses, and as it stands ... those two are probably the best candidates out of the lot to work with any other teammates of the nine."

Rolling her eyes, Anko commented, "Sakura aside, of course."

Kurenai pursed her lips and folded the papers into - somewhere. Hmm. Neat trick - he'd have to get that one later. Almost as though in response to that thought, the woman's red eyes swiveled to his, and he saw the merest, amused hints of a smirk round her lips. "Well," she said, turning her gaze back to Asuma, ignoring Anko for the moment, "I suppose those missions can keep waiting a while longer."

"Three rotations, at least," the man on the floor agreed, rising smoothly to his feet, then lacing his fingers together over his head and stretching, reaching _just_ short of the ceiling. "I would think. Then probably see if we can push them to do two D rank missions on the extra day at the end of each rotation."

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh, nodding. "Best not keep the children waiting," he agreed.

After all, today he would have Sasuke and Naruto under his watch.

He headed out of Anko's apartment first, but didn't manage to lose the woman. "So," she said, once she caught up, jogging at his side with a grin, "having fun?"

Then, because he couldn't help himself, he said, "Thanks for last night."

She looked surprised, and then a tiny bit annoyed. "We didn't do anything," she remarked, raising one eyebrow. "As much fun as it would be to twist that statement around. Or did you really want your book back that bad?" She seemed doubtful of that prospect - he really didn't think he could sell her that line, at this point.

"I know," he answered, not meeting her eyes.

She shot him an unreadable look at that. "You know," she remarked suddenly, "I really do only have so much patience. I'll let you get away with this shit once or twice, yeah - just like you told me when you started this. But you keep doing it, and I'm going to start prying."

"Really."

"Oh, yeah - I'm not that good at it, but I'm persistent, and thanks to the Hokage, you can't kill me without getting at least a demotion!"

Just when things- Damn that woman! And today, of all days...

* * *

Training under Kakashi - Hinata entirely understood the eager application of the 'Bastard-sensei' nickname to him - was hard, unforgiving work. Naruto was there, and he never gave up. Sasuke did on occasion, or _seemed_ to, only to regroup after using Naruto's bunshin and Hinata as cover to launch some fairly well-considered attempt at attacking the one-eyed man.

For the legendary copy ninja, his attitude towards his students was almost complete and total disdain. He held a book in one hand with an orange cover, remarking only, "I've been waiting to read this for quite a while - I've been told it's quite good," before offhandedly beating them _almost_ as badly as her father usually did during her training sessions at home.

So, really, it wasn't _that_ bad.

Sasuke got regular praise for innovation, and then assigned a penalty for using his teammates as cover instead of trying to coordinate. That penalty was typically being used as a bludgeon against Naruto's bunshin - and once with a kawarimi that resulted in Hinata striking one of the Uchiha heir's tenketsu - slowing his left arm remarkably for almost an hour.

Frustratingly, even with her byakugan, Kakashi did the exact same thing to Naruto, causing her to disrupt any number of bunshin. She felt _terrible_ about that, and wanted to quit training right away, once she realized the poor boy would _remember_ her ... hurting one of his bunshin. That was so wrong! But he just shrugged it off and said that he could take it, but he was impressed with how _hard_ she could hit. Then he encouraged her to try and hit even _harder_ - just maybe, if she were _fast enough_...

That gone quite poorly, and she'd ended up striking Naruto's lower-back, temporarily paralyzing his lower body by striking a point on his spine. Not a bunshin - the real Naruto! In response - amazingly, he shrugged the entire thing off in less than a minute, climbing to his feet and laughing that he'd been _clumsy_, but he was amazed at her skill anyway.

Sasuke, rolling his eyes, insisted that Hinata had gone easier on Naruto, given his recovery. In response, Kakashi had flung explosive tags at all of them.

'Banter while fighting, my cute little students - like _real_ ninja!'

Really, it wasn't that bad. Naruto was there!

She'd gotten to make him breakfast again - he _had_ said it would be okay 'any time', after all. After _that_ he confided in her that he was trying to train with Shino and Shikamaru to become better at understanding how people fought, so he could give better advice to his teammates on people's weakness. Something about sacrificing his bunshin to figure out an enemy's weak-points without giving theirs away.

Naturally, she'd agreed without hesitation to train with him for anything he needed - they were _just_ clan techniques, after all. Anyone could walk into the Hyuuga compound and see them being performed, and it wasn't like he wouldn't get plenty of chances to see her fight if they were teammates. Really, it seemed the most reasonable thing in the world, to her. And, of course, she'd get to spend more time with Naruto!

* * *

After the general meeting, Shino, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata left Senzo's in a group once more. "I'm going to say that Asuma's probably my favorite teacher by far," Shikamaru mused, lacing his fingers behind his head and staring up at the clouds.

"Eh," Naruto grunted. He was mildly distracted, since his library bunshin were dispersing - staggered in five minute intervals, now, and there were only four of them, which helped quite a bit. He'd also seriously toned down the number of bunshin he used against Kakashi - that was just... Way too many useless memories. Sure, he had learned things, but generating so many copies of himself... The same observation seven or eight times, if not an annoying number _more_ before they could report them _back_ to him...

The only _good_ thing was that every mind-bending load of memories he could make with clouds of bunshin made the memories of Mizuki's death - and Iruka's - fuzzier and more distant.

"I don't like Bastard-sensei. He's a _dick_. I tried calling him out on it, but he just said, 'well, then how will you fight against a stronger ninja in real life?' And then," he made a vague gesture, "you know, explosive tags."

All the boys grunted and shared an unhappy nod at that idea.

"That has _got_ to be expensive," Shikamaru mused.

"He may draw his own," Shino noted.

Huh - something to consider. He supposed it made sense, though ... it wasn't like explosive tags just _happened_ at the weapon supplier - _someone_ had to make the damn things... Hinata nodded thoughtfully at that.

"Anyway," Naruto continued, "Hinata and I are going to practice taijutsu." He waved, then produced a bunshin, which ambled between Shino and Shikamaru. His bunshin asked, as though nothing else had happened, "So what teams do you think we'll get next time?"

Naruto diverged towards a training ground, already dismissing his other friends for the moment. His bunshin was with them, and as soon as it wasn't - he'd know. Hinata watched with mild surprise, looking between him and the bunshin that strolled away, down the street to Shikamaru's house. "T...that's a really neat trick," she remarked, blinking.

"It's ... kind of my best one right now," Naruto confessed. "Um ... but Shikamaru said, 'be good, or be good _at_ it'. Which I guess, is kind of me and kage bunshin, right? I was never much good at bunshin, but kage bunshin..." He shrugged.

"O...oh," Hinata replied, frowning curiously. "Um... That technique takes rather a lot of chakra, doesn't it? So ... is it maybe that your chakra overwhelms the technique?"

"Huh? That wouldn't make sense," Naruto countered. "You'd just get more bunshin - just like I get more kage bunshin, right? I mean - I never got the regular bunshin, and right _now_ I can't see the point to trying. But you're pretty good at it - what happens when you try and push really hard, and just make regular bunshin?"

"U...um," she returned, stymied by his logic. They had reached an otherwise empty training ground, so she said, "Well, let's find out!" She took a breath to steady herself, formed the hand seals, and then he saw her focus - and then eight bunshin of her appeared, standing around in the same pose. "O...oh!"

"Yeah, I thought so," he said with a nod. Scratching the back of his head as Hinata dismissed her regular bunshin, he added, "To be honest, I always thought that bunshin was an annoying technique - making an image of yourself... Well, I mean, it's got nothing to do with power. I had no idea that it was going to be the final, though, or I would have tried to get a lot better at it." He paused, then admitted, "Though ... I think it's because I'm really just not very good with most image stuff in general. It's taking _forever_ to get better at henge! Since they're always getting caught, I send out a few bunshin every morning to practice henge until they get spotted by ANBU - or around lunch time, whichever comes first."

"T...that's very brave," she said worriedly. "Aren't you afraid of getting in trouble?"

"By what, ANBU?" he asked, grinning. "I'm pretty sure that they can't track it back to me - and if they _do_ I'm not actually doing anything wrong!" It was true, too, once he'd had some time to properly think about things. He was just practicing his jutsu on some of his free time. Free time he'd made through his one good technique, but free time anyway. "And, anyway, kage bunshin don't recover chakra like I do, so once they get too tired or worn out they disperse anyway. A book you suggested to me about that told me that it's supposed to be more of an in...fil...tration tool," he paused, nodding, positive he remembered reading it that way earlier. "Yeah, for getting into places, not so much beating people up.

"But that's why we're _here_, if you're willing to help me - I wish I could do something for you, but you're really pretty awesome. What were those things we had for breakfast again?"

"Omelets," she answered, her cheeks turning slightly pink as she offered a nervous smile.

Huh, he was willing to bet her family never let her cook, and that was why she was so happy to cook at his place. Not that he could complain. Breakfast was awesome, and he had to put no physical effort into it. He just needed to try and be Hinata's friend somehow. That was probably one of the coolest things after meeting up with Shino and Shikamaru to come out of the entire mess that becoming a genin had been so far!

"Yeah! Those were _delicious_!" Of course, he still loved ramen, and in fact meant to buy her a bowl of ramen or three at Ichiraku's after their training. He at least intended to work up an appetite, and judging by how strong Hinata was, she should, too. He figured it would be okay to overdo it a _little_. They had Kurenai as a teacher for the next day, so they could be _physically_ worn out, right?

"Okay - anyway, you'll help me get better at taijutsu, right?" he said happily.

"A...ah, yes," she agreed, shaking some distracting thought away. "U...um, where should we begin?"

"I dunno," he admitted. "I practiced with Shikamaru and Shino, and I couldn't much figure it out - but I thought, you're so good at figuring things out, like how you helped me pick stuff to study. That's really been cool, right? This should be even easier for you!"

She worked her mouth for a moment, looking nervous and slightly uncomfortable. "I...I only know ... one way to teach taijutsu," she said anxiously, wringing her hands. "T...the way that I learned..."

"Then that's _exactly_ what I want!" Naruto exclaimed eagerly. "If I can become half as good as you, that'd be _totally_ worth it! Then I'll only need a _few_ bunshin to be even _more_ kick-ass!"

"I... I don't know if I can-"

"You _absolutely_ can!" he insisted. Why did she want to waste time doubting herself? It was incredibly obvious how smart she was. "I know you can! I have no idea what to do to make it up to you, but some how I will! Some day I'm going to be Hokage - but I know from what I've been able to figure out so far, I really have got to get better at taijutsu. I don't know _anyone else_ I like who's as good at it as you!"

She swallowed back some complaint. Her eyes shone with the emerging starlight as the sun set, and she gave a slow, hesitant nod. "I... Yes, okay. Um, I will- I will! For you, Naruto-kun- I-" She cut off abruptly and nodded again, this time with conviction, her eyes seeming to light up; she still looked mildly anxious about what she was about to do, but she didn't waver. He felt strangely confident that she really meant what she was saying. "I promise you, Naruto, I will do everything in my power to help you! I will give everything I can to help you become Hokage! Whatever it takes!"

"Yeah!" he cheered. That was more like it! "I'm gonna have to do something back for you, of course," he warned her, grinning. "It's only fair, right?"

"O...okay!" she yelped, her features hardening with resolve as she took up a stance. "Are you ready?"

"Ah- Er, actually- Just a minute," he chuckled in embarrassment. "I forgot something." He made his favorite hand seal, and produced a trio of kage bunshin, having them spread out to watch from different angles. "There. Okay! Show me what you've got!"

Three seconds later, almost half of the tenketsu on the right half of his body had been closed, and her upper-cut launched him across the empty, dusty arena of their chosen training ground, slamming into his own bunshin, landing in an awkward tumble of memories, half his body numb. The other two bunshin helped him back upright, while Hinata stood frozen stiff from where she had hit him.

_Fuck_! He'd taken some incidental hits from Bastard-sensei's insane kawarimi-cheating. And that was a _totally_ bullshit move - Naruto was going to master kawarimi the _second_ his henge passed Kurenai's approval - and then shunshin would be _his_. How sweet that would be!

The next bunshin released, sending memories back to him and lessening the impact of his disorientation. Okay, a little bit better. "_Wow_," he managed, staring at Hinata. "I'm gonna need more bunshin, but that was _awesome_!"

The remaining bunshin raised his eyebrows, then shrugged and released, helping stabilize him more - adding the memories of only _seeing_ himself getting beaten so swiftly, not quite experiencing it so much. He settled on six bunshin, an adequate number to make the pain a distant, background effect - provided Hinata didn't knock him out.

He forced himself to spend a few moments between her finishing moves to gather himself and think about what had happened. By the time she, exhausted and panting, and him, his tenketsu seeming reluctant to reopen, had both had enough, it was late in the evening, and he had increased his survival time to nearly a full minute per round.

The main trick seemed to be keeping her amazingly debilitating strikes scattered around - one on an arm was a major hindrance - three or four rendered the limb a liability. That seemed accurate to real combat, in Naruto's imagination, though. In effect, he'd lucked out and gotten the most amazing training partner ever - her special attacks only caused a hell of a lot of pain and discomfort, all of it temporary.

For some meanings of 'temporary', anyway - the dictionary he'd read earlier had a bunch of them.

In short, it was the most effective way he thought existed for someone with his unique chakra attributes to practice.

"A...are you okay?" she gasped.

"Fine," he rasped in response cheerfully, too tired to even summon up another bunshin at the moment. He went to her side and knelt, hauling her upright, putting one arm around her back, and her arm over his shoulders. "That was _amazing_ Hinata-chan! I want to do that again some time! I think you helped teach me a lot - now let me buy you some ramen at Ichiraku's!"

"O...oh, alright," she agreed, as her knees wobbled unsteadily.

* * *

While Naruto managing to convince Hinata to help him train his taijutsu was surprising, Shikamaru was actually somewhat _more_ impressed with Naruto's idea of sending a bunshin to pay attention to the other two - and, really, since the bunshin was effectively just a copy of him (if somewhat more fragile), it was a brilliant way to keep tabs on things.

Damn, he couldn't _wait_ until he had the chakra to make a copy of himself! Unfortunately, the best way he knew of building chakra was ... well ... _using_ it. Sure, some taijutsu training would help him. So his choices were drilling with Shino, still stiff from fighting the legendary copy bastard, or Naruto, a shadow-clone.

"Hey, Naruto," he said, as they stepped around his house, and to his family's private training ground. He'd already decided that if the boy would remember it, he wouldn't appreciate being called a copy. "I have an idea that will be really handy once your henge picks up a bit."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

Shino looked interested, too.

"I need to build my chakra reserves and practice my family jutsu," he explained.

"You want to freeze me in place?" Naruto-bunshin asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I struggle, I'm spending chakra - and when that runs out - poof, back to the boss. Still, if that's what you want, sure."

"Actually, this should still work," Shikamaru disagreed. "The basic form that you've seen me use freezes someone still. It's kind of useful for some situations, like with Ino and Sakura last night. The more advanced form actually lets me move someone else's body the same way mine moves."

"Oh?" Naruto asked with interest. "That sounds pretty useful."

"Well, I need to practice it a lot to get it to that point, and that's where you come in," Shikamaru agreed. "But you'll get something out of it, too. What I want to do is snare you, and then have you learn to perfectly imitate how I move in general. Some point in the future, if you have to henge as me, well ... you'll have that much more of an idea how to do it, hmm?"

"I can likewise participate in this training," Shino noted. "Additionally, I wish to practice my kawarimi - repeatedly seeing Bastard-sensei's use of it gives me cause to believe that this is a superior technique; well worth the effort and compatible with what you wish to practice. It may likewise be useful to have both of us learn the capability to pose as you."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and nodded at that. Wandering around as a team ... with a little practice, if they could learn how to pose as one-another - wouldn't _that_ be a nice little ploy to get some unsuspecting enemy. And, really ... with better henge and kawarimi use, they could play some sort of monstrous shell game. Which of them would be the real Shikamaru?

"Oh, _so_ much pranking potential," Naruto-bunshin gloated preemptively, seeing what the shadow-user had proposed. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

"No pain, no gain," Shikamaru agreed, taking up a stance and nodding at Naruto. His pain wouldn't be physical ... the worst he'd end up with was less chakra reserves facing Kakashi. Not ideal, but it wasn't like the copy ninja was going to let him win at his best, so he'd tough it out.

"This is a motto that Bastard-sensei would approve of," Shino contributed.

* * *

Learning how to imitate Shikamaru's movements was an interesting form of training - but trying to use kawarimi even on willing allies was significantly more troublesome than he'd thought. Then again, given his upcoming time with Asuma - something he didn't really care about - he could spend that session working on recovering the kikaichu he had spent working on that jutsu.

Even with Naruto and Shikamaru unresisting, it was difficult. He'd started out using hand-seals, to better pace his chakra reserves, but kikaichu helped make up the tiny differences and improved his efficiency. Annoyingly enough, when it was done and they were all exhausted, Shino wasn't certain he'd actually improved in his use of the technique very much - though he was at least becoming much more sensitive to when and how it could be used to greater efficiency.

Throw in the unexpected occasions where Shikamaru snared him in shadow, and he was forced to move the same way Shikamaru did - _very_ unusual. Only once had he managed to kawarimi out of the shadow-bind, and that was only on the last attempt, when Shikamaru was almost at his limit. "I'm done," the Nara boy finished in disgust, slumping to sit on the lawn.

"Hey - let's all grab a bowl of ramen!" Naruto-bunshin suggested eagerly, rallying their flagging strength. "I'm planning on taking Hinata-chan there after training, so we can all meet up!"

Shikamaru allowed the bunshin to pull him to his feet. "Thanks," he said, nodding. "I guess if you disperse, we'll know where to meet up."

Naruto-bunshin frowned in consternation, leading the way. "Uh, huh, good point. Next time I should say that earlier ... well, no harm this time, right?"

"This time," Shino agreed. "What do you project to be likely for next week's teams?"

"Hmm... I'm guessing that Ino and Sakura will still be together - not sure if they want to give us annoyingly imbalanced teams or what to try and make us learn to adapt to things, or to actually try and see what good combinations of us there are. Otherwise ... they probably want to keep us on our toes - so generally as few familiar faces as possible." After a moment of pause, he added, "Unless they decided to keep Sasuke and Naruto on the same team."

"Sucky," Naruto remarked as they came around the corner of the house. Shino spotted Shikamaru's father standing on the walkway between the house and the street, head cocked slightly to one side. "Er. Uh ... hi, Nara-san..."

"Uzumaki-kun," the man returned, nodding at the entire trio. "Aburame-kun, Shikamaru - good to see you three doing well. So, how is your genin training going? You look a bit worn out."

"It's been intense," Shikamaru answered. "We were still hungry after dinner, so we're headed out to get something extra to eat."

"Makes sense," the jounin commander agreed. "Say ... Uzumaki-kun, you wouldn't happen to know of roving bunshin practicing henge in the marketplace, would you?"

"U...uh ... maybe?" Naruto hazarded with a nervous, uncomfortable grin.

"Mmm... An interesting side-effect of kage bunshin is that typically, most of the equipment they carry is replicated," Shikaku noted, glancing up at the night sky. Shino had to admit he'd seen that - Naruto's shuriken and kunai seemed just as effective when thrown by bunshin. Of course ... they also puffed away into chakra smoke shortly after impact. Recounting it as though no more than an idle thought, Shikamaru's father continued, "None of it lasts terribly long away from the bunshin, of course. If a bunshin were, for example, to spend money somewhere..."

Naruto - the Naruto _bunshin_, Shino reminded himself - began to look even more nervous, chuckling uncomfortably. "U...uh," he mumbled, shifting his gaze nervously.

"That kind of behavior, you know, it could really mark someone's reputation," the man sighed. "Of course... Perhaps if it was an accident, certain merchants could be paid with real money and apologized to..."

"Y...yes," Naruto said shakily, nodding his head. "T...that would be very important."

"And, just maybe," Shikaku pondered, as though in an aside as his gaze went to the door to his own home, "put the books away when you're done with them?"

Naruto-bunshin gave an uncomfortable swallow and nodded. "Y...yes, Nara-san, I'll make sure the boss takes care of it first thing tomorrow!"

The man gave a slow blink, and nodded at that. "Very good," he allowed. Shikamaru and Shino finally turned to look at one another - Shikamaru vaguely surprised, but more resigned than anything else. For his part, Shino wondered what a bunshin would spend money _on_. Unless it ran it all the way back to Naruto's apartment, perhaps...?

"And on that note," the jounin commander continued, glancing between the others of the team, "you _do_ look worn from training and you seem like good, earnest kids, so, Shikamaru, here's some money to cover your meal - eat up, eh? I'll keep your mother busy for tonight."

"Your sacrifice will be recorded in song," Shikamaru responded - seemingly reflexively, giving his father the salute of Konoha. The man gravely returned it, nodding before handing over a short stack of ryo. "Thank you, father."

After he was gone, the bunshin gave an especially morose sigh, pulling the notebook from his pocket. "I really didn't think this through," he commented. "How many pages of notes did I just write down for nothing? Damn..."

"Attaining mastery of your techniques is sometimes a difficult process," the bespectacled boy noted, shaking his head slightly.

Shikamaru nodded, sticking the ryo into his pocket and motioning the bunshin to lead the way to their destination once more. "Not to sound too cruel, but really, you're actually helping Shino-kun and I out here. We're understanding the basics of this technique better... You say the B rank version is chunin level, right?"

"Yeah," the bunshin agreed. "Uh ... like I said before - your dad told me that - showed it to me, too. Said it would be really inconvenient if I only ever did the taju version."

"Right," Shikamaru agreed with a frown. "Hmm... We need to figure out some way to measure chakra more efficiently - I'd like to know how much that technique takes."

"A little," the bunshin hedged, when a restaurant came into sight down the street. "Um, it also divides _all_ your chakra up and splits it between as many bunshin as there are."

Shino blinked at that. This seemed to indicate that Naruto had an unusual amount of chakra. That had already been evident, but the idea that he wasn't just spending a specific amount, instead actually _splitting_ his chakra out... Kikaichu weren't the _best_ basis for comparison, but he could see a few places where he might have experienced something similar, trying to get his companion-bugs ready to face Kakashi's next attack quickly enough for him to try and kawarimi to safety...

They spotted another Naruto - and Hinata - ahead of them, chatting eagerly with the old man behind the counter of the ramen place that Naruto liked so much.

"Ah!" Naruto-bunshin exclaimed, running up to the original version of himself. "Wow- You look like crap!"

"Thanks," Naruto returned, scowling mildly at his clone. "What's going on?"

"Bad news," the bunshin replied, handing over his notebook. "Better copy down my notebook before I disperse."

"Good thinking!" Naruto approved, setting aside eating to scribble some notes while the bunshin rocked back on his heels, looking somewhat bored.

"So," Naruto-bunshin asked Hinata, "good training session?"

"I... I think so?" she asked, looking between the scribbling Naruto and the idling one. "I'll definitely do everything I can to help you become better at taijutsu!"

"Sweet!" the bunshin declared.

Naruto finished scribbling down whatever his bunshin had written then noted, "Though, come to think of it ... if the notebook goes away, then in the marketplace..."

"Yeah," the bunshin agreed, nodding. "You're about to feel really dumb." Then it dispersed, and Naruto looked pained.

"Well," Shikamaru drawled, hiding a small smirk, "that was interesting." He took the seat next to Naruto, and Shino took the next seat.

Naruto nodded quickly. "I feel like I learned a lot today - and only some of it was because of Bastard-sensei!" he said cheerfully.

"Now, _that_ is something to be optimistic about," Shikamaru agreed. Nodding at the proprietor, he jerked a thumb towards Naruto, "Give me his tab - but I'd like your largest beef ramen."

"Shrimp," Shino added. "And tea, please."

"You got it!" the man behind the counter said cheerfully, before Naruto made introductions. "Well," the old man said, giving the group a grin, "Naruto's tab is pretty big, so since you're obviously good friends of his - I'll give you each _one_ free bowl of ramen, eh?"

"In that case," Shikamaru said without hesitation, "make my order a double."

"Myself, as well," Shino added.

"P...please," Hinata echoed somewhat timidly with a hopeful smile, while Naruto nodded vigorously. "Um, a bowl of chicken ramen?"

The old man chuckled. "You sure are working up an appetite!" he remarked, serving their first round and preparing the second without hesitation, even as his daughter leaned over him to hand out teacups, winking at the genin cheerfully.

At a sudden thought, Shino frowned. Three of them had family to rely on ... but as things stood, without being assigned D rank missions - as was the standard practice - they wouldn't be making money. Really, what sort of income did Naruto have?

"Naruto," he wondered aloud, "is there a provision allowed to you for your living expenses?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Naruto answered, nodding eagerly. "See... The Hokage explained to me that once I started going to the academy, since I was an orphan from... Uh, well, anyway, since I didn't have any folks but I still wanted to be a ninja, I get a monthly grant to cover my expenses! It was some really cool idea that the yondaime came up with to help out kids like me!"

Shino had never heard of this, but then, he wasn't an orphan, and the only _other_ orphaned ninja he really knew was Sasuke, who - at least in theory - had a clan inheritance to rely on.

"That's part of why I think the yondaime is so cool," Naruto added. "I mean, everything else aside - he made it so a kid like me with no family could still be a ninja - and some day, Hokage! Isn't that awesome?"

"Some day!" Hinata agreed with absolute conviction, managing a happy smile between sipping very lady-like bits of her soup.

"Will that continue now that you're a genin?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata began to look alarmed. Naruto blinked in surprise. "I ... didn't think of that," he admitted uncomfortably. "Ah - that's okay, though! The monthly payment isn't _much_. I can just scavenge old weapons from the training grounds that no one else wants and sell them, like when I want to make some cash for pranking supplies. Come to think of it, that'd be a great place to practice my henge, since the smiths don't like to give me a good deal on account of... Er, yeah, I'll be alright! Though ... shouldn't we be making money now that we're ninja?"

"Once we work our way up to doing D rank missions," Shikamaru sighed. "Hmm, this is a real hindrance, isn't it?"

"They're just giving us this annoying training?" Naruto grumbled. "For how long?"

"Until they think we've trained enough," the shadow-user answered with a shrug.

"So, we should ... train more ... until we're good enough!"

Shino bit back a sigh of his own and started eating his soup. Hmm, actually - really good. For ramen, at least. The shrimp were even _fairly_ fresh. Something Shino had never been able to puzzle out, given how far Konoha was from the ocean. "I see no better alternative," he noted, after a taste.

"What a pain," Shikamaru groaned. "It's going to get really ugly if we can't afford to eat."

Naruto's stomach growled sympathetically, and he stared mournfully into his empty bowl - before the man behind the counter gave him a new one. "No worries, kids," he said with surprising authority. "If you've got free time to train and you're really starving, well... I can point out some part-time work to keep you fed, if nothing else!"

"Really?" the orange-clad boy asked in surprise, starting to grin.

"It's manual labor," he warned, still smiling. "But none of the food vendors here get free delivery from the market, you see ... quite a few of us would be willing to pay a handful of ryo and some free food to make sure we have everything on hand in time! And who more reliable than ninja-in-training? The pride of Konoha!

"This sort of work might normally be a D rank mission, but it's too urgent for the trouble of filling the required paperwork. Still, there's nothing wrong as long as you're well behaved, is there?"

"That doesn't sound too bad," Naruto agreed, grinning. "And, you know - more henge practice!"

Shino nodded thoughtfully at that. As much as he was focusing on kawarimi ... Naruto was right - especially if they were going to be able to practice henge as Shikamaru - or one-another in general. The tactical advantage of Shino using henge as Naruto, Shikamaru looking like Shino, and Naruto looking like Shikamaru... Yes, henge took less chakra in general. And if he could work his kikaichu into it, well... That would really be something.

"Well, one-way or another, I think we're pretty much ready for anything, until we at _least_ get to do D ranks." Shikamaru then frowned, noting, "Extenuating circumstances notwithstanding."

Naruto blinked at that, turning a quizzical look to Hinata, who posed, "U...unless something goes wrong."

The would-be-Hokage nodded knowingly at that, and Shino allowed himself a small amount of cheer. Something was still bothering him, though. He needed to ask Shikamaru... Something about Naruto's strength didn't seem to quite add up.

* * *

Instead of meeting their teachers, the genin had all been surprised with notes saying that training was off - and they had a free day. Naruto had been given his by a disappointed Hinata, who had embarrassedly told him that she still wanted to come over and make him breakfast.

Considering how reckless he'd been with kage bunshin money, he needed to save his resources, and Hinata's cooking was much cheaper than Ichiraku's for every meal. Of course, he insisted on giving her something to help out with the costs of the groceries, but even _then_ her kitchen-magic stretched a ryo about three times as far.

And, man, did variety make the ramen he got that much _better_!

He'd actually been cheered by the idea of a whole day off- Yeah, he wanted to be a genin, but the training was just a pain in the ass. He felt like he'd struggled for a few _weeks_ of training in the last few days. In his _real_ ninja life - and at this thought, he paused instinctively, checking for another of Bastard-sensei's exploding tags - he'd end up with awesome teammates. Hinata was really cool, and he owed her a lot ... but he kind of still hoped he'd be on a team with Shikamaru and Shino.

But being on a team with Hinata, well - that really wouldn't be so bad.

Funny how that had changed ... going from thinking he was settling for being on a team with the two quiet boys, and now thinking that there were more people he liked than he could really fit on a team with.

Then again, what if one of them made chunin? Then they _could_ be a team!

That thought in mind, he told Hinata to cheer up; even if their sensei were mysteriously busy with something, they could still train, right?

They'd met up with Shikamaru and Shino, then ... and they'd had similar ideas, Shikamaru detouring to collect the amiable Choji, and the somewhat more reluctant Kiba.

"Got me away from my annoying sister," he groused, when Naruto pressed him. "So, anyway ... what are we going to do today? Some random prank, since they're not giving us money?"

"Part-time work for pocket-change, followed by practicing our taijutsu," Shikamaru suggested.

"That sounds really lame," Kiba barked. Akamaru yipped once - possibly in agreement.

Naruto felt up to the task, so posed, "Okay, what's your better idea?"

Kiba sulked, whining, "I want to do a real mission!"

The blond boy thought about it for a minute. "Okay ... you know what? I have an idea... We can do a practice mission once we do our part-time work," he suggested.

Kiba perked up at this, before he narrowed his eyes and gave Naruto a doubtful, sidelong glance. "What _kind_ of practice mission?"

"How about ... we'll split into two teams, right? And one team wants to escort a princess to a base, and the other team has to defend the base."

"Stupid, who's supposed to be the bad guys?" Kiba snorted.

"Oh, that's easy - I'll be all of them," Naruto said, grinning. _There_ was a way to practice his henge without upsetting shop-keepers. And, hell, if he wasn't doing anything other than sending out his library bunshin...

"But, hey, some of us don't have a nice warm kennel to get in out of the rain," Shikamaru warned. "So, since our respective teachers can't be bothered to help us earn money, let's get to it."

"Alright," Kiba said with a smirk. "I'll look forward to beating the crap out of you a lot, if you have to be every bad guy!"

Naruto snorted. Little did _he_ know. "I'll get you, Kiba," he warned, grinning. "And your little _dog_, too!"

Akamaru yapped in amusement - they'd played together almost as much as Naruto had spent time with Kiba, in the academy, so he could tell Naruto was just being friendly.

"Yeah, just you try it," Kiba warned, snorting, before he jogged ahead with Choji, already planning with his other friend.

Shikamaru chuckled. "Try and go a bit easy on Choji," he said in amusement. "He's a friend, you know."

"Oh?" Naruto mused. He was one of the four low-scorers in the academy... But then, Kiba was, too. Hey, why not? Adding one or two more to his circle of friends wouldn't hurt at all!

And, come to think of it, that would be more than half of all the people he'd ever team up with. He already _liked_ Sakura, and he could _tolerate_ Sasuke ... so really, if he could get along with Ino at least a little, that'd be great, too!

But more than that, he was _really_ looking forward to playing the training game he was planning later. Oh man - that was going to be _awesome_.

* * *

Kiba grit his teeth, scanning around the forest warily. The princess snuffled behind him, still totally useless in the process of _defending_ herself... Not even alert - what a nuisance!

At least, he consoled himself, as the princess's _most_ trusted knight, he was allowed to pick two companions to try and escort her through the dangerous wooded area. He'd chosen the stalwart Choji and the reliable Shikamaru, who had amusedly agreed to let Kiba lead the teams.

They just had to fight through the bandits, protect the princess, and then escort her to the wardens of the castle - Hinata and Shino.

This is where things had started to go wrong for Kiba.

He'd expected a bandit - _a_ bandit.

Not a small _team_ of them. They mostly seemed unskilled, but there were five of them, and their leader fought significantly better than the first four. Kiba was surprised - too scared to fight back, at first, until Shikamaru grabbed control of the first charging enemy, and Choji landed a power-blow to the aggressor's sternum.

Then ... a surprising puff of chakra residue, and no trace of the enemy.

Given that understanding, he'd rallied, managing to dispatch two of the charging enemies, while Shikamaru herded the 'boss' into Choji's reach, and the Akimichi boy dispatched him with calm ease. The last bandit screamed and fled, tagged by a senbon from the shadow-user and vanishing into chakra.

Alright.

That had set the tone for steadily building, very worrisome attacks. First, greater numbers of bandits, and more of the skilled 'bosses'. It was actually kind of like a game ... except, the princess seemed to have _no_ concern for her own safety, and was frequently pausing. She did it again!

The princess's head cocked to to one side as she studied a nearby tree, judged it adequate, then lifted one leg and-

"Oh for the love of- Akamaru!" Kiba complained, "You don't have to mark _every_ dog-damned tree! We're gonna get ambushed again!"

The 'princess' sniffed haughtily in response, then trotted sedately between the trio once more. There - in the distance, a rustling in the bushes!

* * *

Hinata had practiced fighting against Naruto directly, and fought around his bunshin ... but practicing against the chakra-copies directly was a bit scary. And exciting, too! There were so many of them!

In starting the game, they'd established a 'fort' by drawing lines connecting posts in a training ground, and Naruto promised that none of his bunshin would cross the barriers, unless they had enough time to climb the training posts and pull down the kunai embedded there.

The first few attempts were laughable, causing even the stoic Shino to show doubts as to how effective they were as a training tool...

...that was a short-lived doubt.

More and more 'bandits' began to charge from the perimeters of the clearing, causing first Shino, and then Hinata, to temporarily retreat across the walls of their fort for defense. It was actually kind of fun - getting tagged by the bunshin wasn't _too_ bad. They were only swinging sticks, and it was very obvious that Naruto was holding back, given the _numbers_ of bunshin, rather than skill.

And, she had to admit, the adult-sized silly looking 'bandit' henge was slowly improving between waves of attackers. It did seem a bit odd that he'd reflexively made the 'bandits' the same size and age as themselves, but they began to come in a greater variety of heights and shapes as the waves went on.

Even so, by the time 'princess' Akamaru and her escort managed to reach the edge of the clearing leading into the training ground, the bandit hordes had swelled to a constant onslaught, large numbers of bandits jumping up and down at the walls of the 'castle', urging their bandit-teammates to climb the training posts. While Shino and Hinata _wanted_ to rush out to assist their allies - getting Akamaru into the fort would win the game - the pair of them had to frantically fend off the bandits attempting to climb the walls of the fortress and pull out the key-stone kunai!

Finally, the bandit warlord himself - this henge with a suspicious hitai-ate-like stripe across one eye, marked with the character for 'bastard' - showed up, summoning minions left and right.

Well, they tried - Choji was a seemingly immobile wall, standing over Akamaru protectively, but finally even Kiba and Shikamaru were borne down - oh, no!

And then... Just when Hinata was certain they were going to lose, Shino tried a desperation move and-

Success!

He used kawarimi to switch places with the dog- with the princess at the last possible moment!

The bandit warlord looked on in surprise as all of the bandits let out a collective, "Aawww..."

Hinata gratefully fell to sit flat on the ground after the grueling 'game'. Oh, that was tiring ... so very tiring... But so much more _fun_ than any other training she could recall!

"Alright, Kiba," Shikamaru said after catching his breath, climbing atop one of the training posts and claiming the kunai so he could have a place to sit. "So, that was your shot at leading. You chose who did what, and gave us orders on the way to meet with the defenders, right?"

Kiba scowled. "I'd like to say we won," he groused. "But ... I didn't even know Shino had picked up that trick, and that's the only thing that saved Akamaru."

The nin-dog yapped happily from within the confines of the 'fort'.

"Winning at the cost of everyone except for Hinata and Akamaru," Shikamaru agreed. "And technically Choji, but that's a lot of bandits for one genin to handle."

"I thought this was a good exercise," Choji contributed. "Very interesting."

The orange-clad boy grinned, though he looked slightly dazed. "Ran a bit long," he said, shrugging. "Thought you were going to be faster."

"Yeah, mobility is a key point," Shikamaru agreed. "Myself, I would have switched me out with either Shino or Hinata - my jutsu is great for getting attackers off the wall, and Shino or Hinata's extra scouting ability could have helped out a lot on the run. Plus, Hinata's more of a front-line fighter."

Kiba scowled, and Choji nodded slowly, getting the point. Just picking the people you liked most wasn't going to build the best team.

"Huh," Kiba mused, his scowl fading as Akamaru scurried to his side. "That was kind of fun, though. Actually - really good multiple-attacker training, too."

Hinata nodded at that, and Choji nodded his agreement. There were over two hundred 'bandits' in the entire scenario. And with her kekkai genkai, between waves, she'd seen him personally crush at least _thirty_.

"I kept the skill level kind of low," Naruto said, sounding pleased with himself. "But then, I figured there were enough of them that it should be fine."

"I think t...that Naruto-kun did an amazing job," she said softly, offering a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, okay, I probably couldn't do anything that cool," Kiba acquiesced, while Shikamaru and Shino nodded their agreement.

"Well," Shikamaru said, shrugging, "Kiba - you, Choji, and Naruto got the free passes to that all-you-can-eat barbecue place, right?"

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. Choji nodded, also pleased at the thought of all-you-can-eat. Akamaru and Kiba began to salivate in tandem.

"Okay, we got the passes for the okonomiyaki place, so ... how about we meet up after lunch?"

Hinata wanted more than anything to go with Naruto... She wanted to always be with him, after all. She just couldn't see quite how to convince any of the boys to go have okonomiyaki instead of as much as they could eat...

Which, she acknowledged, was quite a bit, and Naruto seemed to be on a bit of a budget.

That was okay. She was a ninja! He was so busy with training, and all of his bunshin doing so much amazing stuff that it was a fun challenge to keep his house stocked with relatively fresh groceries! He obviously meant to do it himself, but, well, what with her frequently arriving early, why not make herself useful for imposing on him?

And make sure his laundry was clean - he wanted to be a respectable ninja, and trained so hard he might sometimes overlook that detail. It was understandable, really.

With the aid of her byakugan and some sewing supplies, she even found time to mend his clothes - though Kakashi sure did put the poor boy's clothes through a workout. Naturally, if she hadn't thought to sew up the holes in his trousers, and sometimes ... other things ... he might be ... well ... _exposed_!

Where just anyone could see him!

Well, no matter.

His knees would be safely covered once more.

"Hello?" Shikamaru asked, rousing her from her distraction - oh, the training had left her more tired than she had thought! That and staying up late every night practicing with Naruto.

And ... something else. She couldn't quite remember. Hmm.

Probably not that important.

"Um, yes?" she asked.

"We're here," Shikamaru said.

Hinata felt her face flush, and took a seat next to Shikamaru. The shop was incredibly tiny, and they barely had room to fit inside. The seats were actually crates with thin cushions on them, arrayed around the grill.

The cook was a friendly, slightly rounded woman with the happy glow of expectancy as she tended various containers of batter and assorted ingredients. "Back with us now?" she asked, winking. Then teasing, she added, "And what's the lucky boy's name?"

"Ah!" Hinata started, feeling her face color red. "Ah ... um ... that is..."

The staircase behind the chef creaked, and a man the same evident age with his hair in a short, dark queue behind him stepped into view, before turning towards the back door. "Assignment came up," he tossed out, pulling on an armored flak vest as he went. "Don't tease the kids, Uc-chan."

Hinata blinked and reflexively activated her kekkai genkai - jolting when she spotted the tell-tale tattoo of a former ANBU member on the man's shoulder. She stopped looked immediately at that, feeling even more embarrassed.

The chef's smile turned into a pout, and she heaved a sigh. "Damn," she grumbled after the man, turning to look at Hinata. "Well... Never mind that! What'll you have, sugar?"

They each asked for an order, but she gave them double servings with a wink, and they retreated, bearing their lunches away on clean cloth napkins with promises to return them later. "That's the only okonomiyaki place I've ever seen where they cook _for_ you," Shikamaru noted, licking his fingers as they trotted - somewhat aimlessly - to the bank where Asuma had them meditate.

"Yes," Shino remarked. "Perhaps some special ingredient or technique goes into the dish."

Hinata smiled politely, not really caring ... she'd rather be with Naruto. But then, they had gotten their orders to go, and the boys, they would just be settling into their first round at the buffet.

After settling down and trying a few bites, Hinata admitted that it actually was quite decent. She didn't know if she could make better... Maybe she could convince Naruto to try it at some point?

"Mmm, grilled pork," Shikamaru mused after he finished eating his okonomiyaki, licking his fingertips again. "Not bad."

"I...it was good," she agreed. "Um ... how long, do you suppose...?"

"Some time," Shino answered her unfinished question. "It is, after all, all-you-can-eat."

"Kiba's not going to stop Choji and Naruto from getting into an eating contest," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "In fact, he'll probably encourage them. I give it an hour before they get sent packing - maybe more if the owner is still grateful for the work this morning."

Hinata allowed a reluctant nod at that observation. Naruto's appetite wasn't that problematic... He trained hard! He needed that food for energy!

"Some insight," Shino remarked, prompting Hinata and Shikamaru to turn to him curiously. "Naruto-kun's chakra development seems unusually pronounced for our age-group."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, then turned to regard Hinata thoughtfully. She blinked under the combined attention of both boys, wondering what was going on. "Alright," the shadow-user allowed. "So - Hinata... You've gotten a chance to look at our sensei, haven't you?"

She nodded in response. Even with her kekkai genkai ... but then, she made a habit of doing that regularly - as she was told she should since an even younger age.

"How does Naruto's chakra compare to theirs?" Shikamaru posed.

Now, _that_ was a strange question! Still... "I would guess he had..." She hesitated, doing the math. "Fifty ... seven and seven eighths times as much chakra as Asuma-sensei - or about maybe, fifty two and a half times as much as Kakashi-sensei."

Shino stared at her from behind his dark lenses, otherwise unmoving. Shikamaru blinked once, opened his mouth to say something in response, and then closed it again.

"T...that's just a guess," she said nervously. "I- I've seen Naruto-kun spend a lot of his chakra during training, so I have a fair idea of how much he has..." More than her father, that was for certain. "But I've never really seen Kakashi-sensei or Asuma-sensei use nearly all of their chakra in a fight, s...so..."

"Well, how would he compare to, say, me?" Shikamaru pressed, frowning.

"Um, I'm not really sure ... probably about three orders of magnitude higher?" she hedged. "It's... There's quite a vast gap." She shrugged apologetically, knowing she herself was quite low in that ranking. At least she made up for a lack of raw power with finesse. Then again, this was only talking about reserves - Naruto seemed to also have some inherent recovery that was able to counter even her ability to close his tenketsu - so that wasn't the best gauge for comparison.

"Okay," Shikamaru said after a minute, finding his voice. "That's a bit ... daunting."

"I do not begrudge my ally," Shino said slowly, turning away from Hinata, his voice slow and pensive. "At the same time ... I feel that such potential does not merely occur."

"Well, we do know-" Shikamaru cut himself off and shrugged.

Shino gave a tiny nod in response.

Oh, no... Shino and Shikamaru - they weren't ... keeping _secrets_ from Naruto, were they?

She tried not to stare at them suspiciously, suddenly worried. Why the concern over Naruto's strength? Despite what Shino said about trusting him... "W...what are you saying?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"I can't help but wonder if Naruto is the heir to some kekkai genkai, to have so much chakra," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "I mean ... there are plenty of orphans from..." He shrugged.

Hinata vaguely recalled stories of the kyuubi that had attacked Konoha, the same year that she and most of her class were born. She supposed it seemed fairly obvious that his parents probably died, then - in retrospect. It might have been possible that he was an orphan of some unidentified parents, and they simply hadn't _noticed_ his potential until now?

No ... that didn't seem likely. Even if Naruto were abandoned as an infant, either someone knew him to place that seal on him - or it would have been there in the first place, making his identity fairly obvious.

"I ... suppose," she allowed, though she wasn't really convinced. "C...couldn't we just ask him?"

Shino and Shikamaru exchanged an uncertain glance.

"I do not believe that he is aware of any kekkai genkai," Shino said thoughtfully. "It seems likely that if he had such power, he would eagerly advertise it."

"He has a last name," Shikamaru noted, shrugging. "Couldn't we check the library or something and see if we can find out the history of it?"

"Y...you can," Hinata agreed.

Shikamaru sighed and lay back against the lawn, lacing his fingers together behind his head and staring up at the sky. Shino remained unmoving, looking at the river contemplatively.

"W...why is it so important?" she wondered.

For a heartbeat, Shikamaru looked hesitant, before closing his eyes and saying, "Well ... really, except for Naruto and Sakura, every single one of us in the rookie nine is from a clan. Clans have specialties and strengths - and sometimes kekkai genkai, like yours." He shifted his shoulders in the approximation of a shrug. "I was thinking - for Naruto's sake - if his strength actually comes from some rare or obscure clan ... well, maybe we could research what their specialty is. It could turn out to be a secret strength he doesn't even know - wouldn't that be a nice find?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. Well, that made _perfect_ sense. "Um... D...do you suppose it has something to do with the patch on his shoulder? H...he has the same symbol on the walls of his house!"

And on his pajamas!

Shikamaru looked at her quizzically, and Shino said, "A spiral formation - similar to that in Konoha's leaf crest."

"Or the one on a jounin vest?" Shikamaru asked.

"N...no, no, the one on a jounin vest is red and has more spirals ... but I suppose it _is_ very like Konoha's crest... M...maybe that's all it is..." Hinata sighed.

"This could easily be further researched," Shino posed.

Shikamaru seemed unconvinced, and Hinata finally decided to sit down as well. They were still waiting for Naruto, after all.

The three were silently contemplative until Shino murmured, "We are approached."

Shikamaru grunted and closed his eyes, posing as though he had dozed off. Hinata activated her kekkai genkai and glanced around - surprised to see Sakura slowly walking along the river-bank. The pink-haired girl didn't take long to round the bend of the river, to where she could see the other three. She shot them a wary look, then sighed, trudging along the bank of the river and giving Shino a mistrustful stare the entire while.

For his part, the insect user stood statue-stiff, facing away from her for the moment.

"What brings you by?" Shikamaru asked lazily, when Sakura was between him and the river. "Sasuke turned you down?"

"I- Oh, shut up," Sakura snapped back, shooting him a hurt scowl. "How'd _you_ know?"

Shikamaru looked about ready to throw back some retort, but swallowed it, unlacing his fingers and propping himself up on his elbows. "We have eyes and ears everywhere," he answered, causing her to look even more suspicious. "But never mind that - you placed best in class on the written test, right?"

"Yeah," Sakura allowed, flicking another glance at Shino warily. "Why?"

"Considering team balances and so on," Shikamaru said, shrugging.

"What prompted you to tone down the attitude?" Sakura pressed, narrowing her eyes at Shikamaru and placing both hands on her hips.

"Ino's not here," he answered.

Hinata blinked in surprise, hearing what he said - and then, seeing how Sakura interpreted it. Interestingly enough, Shikamaru told only the truth ... but Sakura seemed to hear something misleading.

"I know, right?" Sakura sighed, some of her tension instantly vanishing. "I can't relax around her either!"

"Mmm," Shikamaru grunted. "Tell me about it."

"Oh, she makes me so _mad_!" Sakura fumed.

"I know, right?" Shikamaru agreed, returning Sakura's words of only moments ago. Then he abruptly switched track, saying, "I just asked her earlier what the history was of the spiral pattern in Konoha's leaf - and she goes off on this tirade..." He sighed, sinking back to the lawn and raising one hand, making speaking gestures and muttering, "You know the rest. I bet she didn't even really know."

"Hah! She's a total idiot!" Sakura crowed. "_I_ know that!"

"Really," Shino said, not quite a question, just a remark.

Hinata was impressed. Sakura's comfort dried up instantly, and she eyed Shino again. "Yeah, _really_," she said, placing her hands back on her hips and glaring at him. "So - our village was founded by Hashirama Senju. Some of his distant relations founded the hidden village of the whirlpool - Uzushiogakure.

"They were _very_ famous for being masters of fuinjutsu - sealing arts. Because of the closeness of their clans, Konoha adopted their symbol - the spiral - into their leaf crest."

"I've never heard of an Uzushio," Hinata protested, thinking this sounded like something she should have known. The hidden city of the whirlpool? Why wouldn't that have been covered?

"Yeah, well ... for whatever reason the book that explained this was the last copy in the library when I found it," Sakura said with a shrug. "It was actually behind something else - probably been stuck there for years. Anyway, they were destroyed in the era of shinobi world wars, but Konoha still uses the spiral in their memory to this day."

"Interesting," Shino remarked.

"D...do you know where the survivors of their village went?" Hinata asked, eyes wide with wonder. Could it be that _this_ was Naruto's legacy?

Sakura looked thoughtful. "Not really," she admitted. "I think it would probably have been physically close to the land of Waves, so ... I guess Kiri would be closest, but if they were allies of us - well, they should have come _here_, right?"

"Stands to reason," Shikamaru allowed.

Sakura stared for a moment, then shook her head. "So, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Waiting for Naruto to get back."

The pink-haired kunoichi looked annoyed. "Yeah - I'm leaving, then. Hope you enjoyed your history lesson." Shaking her head, she quickly walked away.

"T...that," Hinata began hesitantly, looking at Shikamaru before pressing her lips tightly together and giving him a very doubtful look. That was incredibly sneaky... He'd better not be like that towards Naruto!

"What?" he asked, his eyes still closed.

Forcing her voice not to tremble, Hinata warned, "N...Naruto-kun is my friend, Shikamaru... I don't know ... what you're trying to do, but if you hurt him..." She trailed off there. What could she really do? She was positive she'd find _something_ - she knew if Shikamaru betrayed Naruto, she'd just _have_ to.

"He's my friend, too," Shikamaru replied, sounding very faintly annoyed. "You know ... some day he wants to be Hokage?"

"Some day he _will_ be Hokage," Hinata corrected him.

The shadow user's eyes opened and he turned to look at her, his frown deepening slightly. He seemed to consider something, then said, "Well ... that may be. If so, wouldn't knowing about his true strengths be a greater asset?"

"That thought in mind, we know little except for the currently unproven suspicion that he is descended from a lost hidden village," Shino remarked.

Hinata bit her tongue. She didn't think that was a mere suspicion ... somehow, she was confident the seal on Naruto was the product of such a village.

"And that they were renowned with seals," Shikamaru added as if to underscore the point, closing his eyes. "I don't know any fuinjutsu experts - or much about what it does. I mean ... explosive tags, storage scrolls ... and what else?"

Shifting in her seat, Hinata decided that she would help - if she didn't, she'd never know what happened. Never have the chance to tell Naruto. "If ... you're looking for Naruto-kun's family history to help him, I w...will help," she agree.

"There's that," Shikamaru murmured. "Huh. Fuinjutsu."

Shortly after that - surprisingly soon, all things considered - Naruto and Kiba's voices became audible through the bushes, Choji chuckling at something one of the boys said before they came into view. "Hey!" Naruto said with a grin. "I have a great idea for another training game!"


	5. Chapter 5

Motivation Chapter Five

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

Kurenai would rather have been teaching her students than dealing with the current crisis. Well, crisis might have been somewhat overstating it - but it was a mess in any case. Losing one of the Academy's top instructors would have been bad, but they could probably have worked around Mizuki. With Iruka, the head instructor deceased, the Academy had all but shut down.

The Hokage had little enough free time as it was, and the jounin commander had therefore delegated the issue to the jounin teachers, judging them the most fit to determine who among the chunin was best to replace the fallen chunin. Even though he was occupied, the sandaime had the foresight to at least assign Ebisu to take over in the interim.

Ebisu, unfortunately, resented the position; he was a _special jounin_, and should be above teaching potential failures. He took no pains to conceal the fact that he would be happier focusing his attention on the Hokage's grandson, and lamented constantly the boy's total lack of supervision, due to Ebisu being trapped at the Academy. For Konohamaru's part, Asuma didn't seem the slightest bit concerned for his nephew's evident 'abandonment'.

Kurenai was somewhat ashamed to realize that not long ago, she would have been one of those chunin, seeing head instructor as an advancement. It bothered her, but she wasn't sure how to address it - beyond getting Ebisu out of there as quickly as possible. Still, she knew for a fact if the Hokage had told her to stand in for the fallen Iruka, she would have behaved a _damn_ sight better than the snobbish special jounin.

Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Gai, among all of the teachers, had actually shown up to try and speak to the unsettled chunin. It should have been straightforward and resolved quickly, but then it abruptly became _absurdly_ political.

Fifteen promising chunin with the patience to deal with children and ability to teach were in the main classroom, sitting behind the desks as candidates, while the jounin stood on the instruction stage. Gai was grinning madly, surveying the chunin as though waiting for one to break under his beaming smile. Kurenai was looking sidelong, to where councilors Koharu and Homura, as well as the venerable Danzo stood, arranged in a wedge like the intruders they were.

Sarutobi or not, Asuma wasn't his father. So he had a solid plan of doing absolutely nothing whatsoever, and allowing Danzo and the councilors to betray _their_ hands first. Kurenai didn't like the idea of giving no resistance whatsoever to the elder's demands, but they wouldn't have bothered coming down if they hadn't thought they would accomplish something.

The trio stood in formation, Koharu and Homura at the head, looking ancient and falsely harmless. Behind them was the bandaged Danzo, still hiding almost half of his face from ... whatever it was that had injured a good portion of his body, including his right arm. He held a cane in the hand of his good arm. As always, for reasons that Kurenai couldn't put into words, he put her on edge.

His one visible eye scanned across the room, sweeping across hers before locking-gazes for a heartbeat with the room's other one-eyed man. Kakashi adjusted his stance very slightly, and to Kurenai's surprise - Danzo looked away first.

She wondered what that meant, but Homura seemed to decide that the silence had gone on long enough, declaring, "Umino Iruka was betrayed by his theoretical inferior. For this reason, it is no longer adequate to accept standard chunin for the position of head instructor."

"The inability both to foresee the betrayal, and the failure to defeat Mizuki - or even withstand the attack or adequately protect his student demonstrates the vulnerability of the position. Indeed, of the institution itself," Koharu agreed, nodding.

Behind them, Danzo spoke before Ebisu or the stunned chunin could protest, contributing, "In the interest of maintaining the tradition of the Academy instructor being of chunin rank - it happens that there is an ANBU captain who has not been promoted to jounin."

Kurenai blinked at that. Even saying what Danzo _had_ effectively compromised the identity of whatever ANBU he was mentioning. Now this ANBU - possibly one of those rare career ANBU, if they entered at chunin and made captain - was going to be forced out of his role regardless of whatever else happened. Why would the elder do that?

She couldn't hold her silence, so said, "I don't think that someone fresh out of ANBU is the best choice for teaching children, captain or not."

"And we are of the opinion that an experienced ANBU officer is a better choice for the protection of Konoha's future ninja," Koharu countered.

The copy ninja spoke before Kurenai could protest further. "Well, if that's how it's going to be, that's how it's going to be- So, what mask did this ANBU wear?" he asked, sounding entirely disinterested.

Homura shook his head slightly and said, "Horse. He will assume the duties of head instructor later today."

"Alright, we'll take care of it from here, then," Kakashi said with a shrug.

The elders turned and left, satisfied at that.

"You'll vouch for this person?" Kurenai asked, wondering at how easily Kakashi simply dismissed the chunin - all of them denied a chance at promotion.

"Oh, sure," he agreed. Turning to the hopefuls, he shrugged, and as if to add further insult to their situation, remarked, "Just remember that he was ordered here. We are ninja - we follow our orders."

Asuma said nothing, turning to look at the copy ninja thoughtfully.

Turning back to the other two, Kakashi breathed, "Training ground fourteen."

Kurenai and Asuma shrugged at the chunin apologetically, then went their separate ways. After heading back to her apartment, Kurenai used her typical strategies for losing a tail; her rooms were under a constant veil anyway. It was her trade and craft - and she knew how many ways there were to spy on a person. She wasn't the first, and she doubted she'd be the last. She produced a kage bunshin of herself first. This bunshin almost immediately set out under henge, ready to spend the rest of the day doing trivial errands and subtly watching for any observers.

She didn't have enough chakra to repeat that one often, but the genjutsu let her have the illusion that the apartment was occupied anyway. After that, she simply used shunshin to find her escape route - a small obfuscated corner of a nearby market building. The illusion had been tested many times, and to the best of her knowledge, not even ANBU had stumbled across it, yet. She used another shunshin to reach a distant alley - this one not concealed at all, already under henge before she stepped out of the jutsu.

By the time she reached the specified training ground, she was fully in the guise of any of a number of nameless Academy students.

Amusing herself by practicing kunai throws - with the feigned skill of a child her seeming age - she finally became aware of Kakashi's presence in some nearby bushes. Asuma's eventual arrival some minutes later from the opposite direction was unstealthy by comparison. Then again, he might have used some wind-sensing jutsu to detect them from a distance - he could be sneaky like that.

She took a small amount of pride in the fact that Kakashi actually lifted his hitai-ate to study her for a moment. At least he had to use his sharingan to see who she really was.

Then she realized that he might instead be trying to copy her technique - and immediately released it.

"That was remarkably overt, even for Danzo," Asuma said thoughtfully, frowning.

Kakashi nodded at that. "Something doesn't seem right about this to me," he agreed.

"Well, you're the former ANBU captain among us," Kurenai reminded him. "You know this 'horse' character, right?"

"Quite well. But I can't fathom the motivations - or what this accomplishes, other than removing one ANBU from the ranks."

"So ... you don't buy into the 'safety of the children' byline?"

"It's a load of crap and everyone in that room knew it," Kakashi sighed. "I served ANBU detail watching Naruto on occasion when he was younger."

Though he didn't mention it, Kurenai suspected that some other aspiring orphans were watched the same way ... otherwise it would be too easy too approach one and offer training to subvert them away from Konoha. More likely than not, Sasuke had received the same covert guardianship.

"The elders show false concern for the boy's wellbeing. Danzo has never concealed the fact that he believes that Naruto represents only danger to the village. To say that they're motivated to place an ANBU member in the Academy as instructor as a result of him being at risk?" He shook his head.

Not for the first time, Kurenai wondered what the connection was that Kakashi seemed to think he had with Naruto. Was it concern? She'd heard the story of their encounter, at least. She could understand the boy's side of things ... but for Kakashi, why did he seem so bothered that the boy didn't like him? She somehow thought it extended far beyond an assignment or two to watch from the shadows behind an ANBU mask in Naruto's Academy days.

As much as it bothered her to admit, that wasn't the main concern at the moment, however - especially if Kakashi was hinting at greater dangers for any of the students.

"Is there anything this person knows or something they have that could bother Danzo?" Asuma wondered. "Or one of the other elders?"

Kakashi's eye flicked away. "Within ANBU there are no true ranks beyond ANBU, and ANBU captain. At the same time, there is a ... hierarchy. Certain roles go to those with greater seniority and experience. I don't think it would be right to tell you everything I know about a fellow ANBU captain... And I can tell you nothing further without speaking an A rank secret."

"We are both jounin," Kurenai replied. "I believe we're cleared."

Kakashi made a noise that was difficult to decipher for a moment before shaking his head. "Danzo heads a subdivision of ANBU called Root - their purpose is the training of all new ANBU. This ANBU captain ... was aspiring to become a member of Root - to train new recruits. Like myself, he was recruited before Root was formed. I know he has worked very hard to try and attain that position.

"Evidently, this is Danzo's response to an experienced and very capable ANBU's request to become a trainer."

"Kekkai genkai?" Kurenai guessed.

"Yes," Kakashi allowed. "I cannot imagine how it would be applicable to the situation at hand, however."

Asuma nodded knowingly, then leaned slightly towards Kakashi, saying almost in admonishment, "Then perhaps we can."

"I'm positive it has no bearing, and everything aside ... let's leave it at the fact that I consider this person to be one of the two most trustworthy ANBU I know."

"Then the most obvious solution is that Danzo doesn't like this person and wants them removed from ANBU - and this just provides a convenient opportunity," Asuma sighed, rocking back on his heels to stand upright.

"Perhaps it's just a battle-scarred ninja's superstition, but something feels wrong about this, to me," Kakashi said, shaking his head.

"I'll admit, it doesn't sit right with me either," Kurenai agreed, offering a sympathetic shrug. "But what is there to do?"

Kakashi drummed his fingertips on the training post that Kurenai had been using for target practice. "I don't know ... but for the immediate future, I think we should try and put off getting C rank missions for our genin if they involve much of any travel. Until then ... the genin are our main concern. We have even more cause to try and encourage them to be the best ninja we can make them, now."

"I have to say ... when Anko's not around, you say some insightful things," Kurenai mused.

He masked his discomfort at that with a shrug. "She brings out the worst in me."

She pursed her lips, studying him for a moment, while Asuma nodded knowingly - probably guessing what she was about to say. "The best, too."

Looking sharply away, Kakashi said, "On that note - this whole thing cost us a day of working with our students. Since it's a wash anyway, I'm going to try and meet up with an old ANBU contact."

"Your friend with the horse mask?" Kurenai pressed, raising an eyebrow.

"Bear," he answered.

After that, he vanished in a whirl of leaves, and she heaved a quiet sigh.

Asuma shrugged, seeming unconcerned as he lit a cigarette. "Well," he said after a thoughtful puff, "how about that. Kakashi opened up enough to share an A rank secret."

"I see it more as a sign of concern than trust, really," the kunoichi disagreed.

The man grunted, offering a nod. "We ought not look for trouble. And, in the spirit of reciprocation, as water seeks the path of least resistance: we should return this issue to those who last left things to us."

She squinted. "Another clever way to be lazy. So ... tell the jounin commander?"

"Then, too," Asuma noted, pinching his cigarette off and flicking it away, "should we not report our concerns to our superiors?"

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen leaned back in the chair in his office and frowned at his son, and at his side, the thoughtful looking Shikaku. After a contemplative puff on his pipe he sat forward, tapping it out and setting the thing aside. He had entrusted Shikaku to accomplish his assignment, not pawn it off on the jounin. Really, the Nara clan head was a sharp man - brilliant, absolutely a kage-level strategist and planner, with levels of insight that Asuma's years of honed meditation couldn't touch.

The Hokage had fully intended that intelligence go towards selecting a worthy successor for Iruka.

On the other hand ... Danzo wouldn't have pulled his stunt so openly in front of Shikaku. He would have waited, pushed with his allies and supporters - especially Sarutobi's private council. And it wouldn't be the first time Danzo had forcefully pushed for rearranging personnel as he saw fit. For the better military strength of Konoha, but almost never mindful of anything else.

The elder would gladly have just done it behind the Hokage's back, rather than bother with more tired arguments. It irritated Hiruzen to no end that his one-time rival constantly undermined his authority, insisting that the other man's lack of a major position allowed better insight into how to manage aspects of the community that the Hokage simply couldn't find the _time_ to.

And now this?

Naturally, there would be no way to know if Shikaku had somehow cunningly _planned_ to expose it, or if he'd just been lazy and lucked out.

"Alright," he said patiently. "I happen to be very familiar with the shinobi in question - to be honest ... I cannot understand why Danzo would choose to place him in the Academy."

Shikaku crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

"Kakashi seemed unconcerned," Asuma noted. "What's this person's name? Or character?"

The Hokage waved a hand, dismissing the question. He wasn't about to throw away everything about the man's ANBU status - not until it was official, and he could be debriefed. "I'll say that personally, I think he'd be nothing less than ideal for the Academy. He does fulfill the requirements that my advisors suggested, as well..."

"Hmm ... I believe it was councilor Koharu that dispatched Ibiki when Kakashi couldn't be located," Shikaku mused, tilting his head back to study the ceiling. "Some reparation?"

"There was speculation that Danzo wished to deny this person advancement within ANBU," Asuma offered.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at that and picked his pipe up again, realizing with annoyance his tobacco pouch was empty. Wordlessly, his son stepped forward and offered pinch from his own. Smiling ruefully, the sandaime nodded at Asuma, accepting the offering. "There may be that possibility," he conceded, using the same chakra shaping that Asuma used to light his cigarettes as he took a thoughtful puff. "He might not have been militant enough for Danzo's purposes."

"What's his specialization, if I can know?"

"Non-lethal captures," Shikaku answered.

"He should be a fine teacher for the Academy, if somewhat disgruntled about his unwanted career change," the Hokage determined. "Put it out of your mind, Asuma. I'll talk to him later today and explain the situation. I expect he'll be willing to keep the position after that."

"That's the end of it, then?" Asuma asked, frowning.

"I believe my concern is seeing that the children - genin or Academy - are all in good hands," the Hokage returned.

The former Guardian Ninja frowned softly, but accepted the rebuke, bowing before retreating from the room, leaving Hiruzen and Shikaku alone.

A creeping shadow slid the Hokage's pipe out of his easy reach. Like his son, he accepted that subtle admonishment, heaving a weary sigh and pulling his hat from his head, rubbing his scalp tiredly.

"I can only believe you know Asuma better than I do ... but I am of the mind that his rebellious streak was encouraged after that speech, more than anything else," the jounin commander remarked.

Hiruzen allowed an unhappy nod. "Shikaku - I need something from the ANBU morgue," he said with a frown.

Shikaku blinked. "Alright," he said, not moving from his current position. "Hokage-sama, may I ask why?"

"The man behind the horse ANBU mask - you recall the specifics of his kekkai genkai?"

The Nara clan head looked thoughtful before replying, "It's a curse condition, right? Something that causes his body to reject all other curses and curse seals?"

Rubbing at his scalp again, letting his eyes drift closed, Hiruzen sighed, admitting, "And we only know that thanks to Orochimaru's 'experiments'. I can only hope that his banishment from the ANBU ranks has nothing to do with that kekkai genkai."

Shikaku moved some pieces around on his mental strategy map, giving a slow, thoughtful nod. "I'll get Ino and Choza. How do you want Mizuki's remains?"

"Cremated," the Hokage said distastefully. "I'll mix the ashes with ink and form a sealing array." Exactly the kind of thing he wouldn't have had time to do, if he couldn't trust the rookie nine's teachers to watch over them. Still ... with their strange arrangement, he felt that this would be the best possible use of his time.

"Within three hours, we should be done, back here, and no one aside from us and yourself will know," the jounin commander promised, bowing.

The Hokage nodded, glad that there were still those he could trust.

* * *

Kiba knew that he was frequently considered to be slow - and that he'd missed more than his fair share of lessons when they were in the Academy. Well, most of that was because Akamaru couldn't just wait all day every day for lessons to end - he had to run and play. And so did Kiba!

He worked his clan's taijutsu his hardest, because the truth of the matter was, it was one of those things he and Akamaru could do together. So that, Akamaru's sense training (and Kiba's own sense of scent and hearing had been honed remarkably in the same exercises), and everything else was avoided whenever possible so that he and his partner could be together.

And, you know, having fun.

That didn't hurt. Given a choice, and knowing that the situation was fairly dire - all nine of them had to pass or fail... Well, he'd been Naruto's friend before. He could agree that Sasuke was just being a prick to say that Naruto had gotten Iruka killed ... Kiba hadn't ever killed anyone, either.

He knew he was better at taijutsu than Naruto - even full out, most of Naruto's bunshin were a minimal threat, at best - but then ... the Uzumaki boy could have swarmed over Kiba at any time during the training exercises they were doing. And _that_ had happened a handful of times already.

When Choji was there, Kiba could just leave his back to the larger boy and focus on a cone before him, which meant he only took a few hits. That was pretty good, until Shikamaru pointed out that bandits with swords instead of sticks would be slashing him apart, not just whacking his limbs.

That underscored the need to develop real defensive formations.

Kiba was astounded to discover that Hinata was - as Shikamaru insisted - a keystone in many good defensive formations. With Choji establishing point, Hinata could stand a distance behind him. Her taijutsu and Choji's both had somewhat poor mobility - which was something both he and Naruto excelled at.

But with those two defensive fighters back-to-back, Kiba occupying the narrow band between them, darting back and forth... With Akamaru beneath him, just resting safely in the center of the formation, the three could even deflect training kunai - though, most of that was Hinata's alarming speed, despite being effectively stationary when fully defending.

So, Choji would slowly plod forward, relying on the simple - but effective - tactic of grabbing the first 'bandit' and using him as a bludgeon against the next. Naruto's bunshin were obliging about it, and the 'held' bunshin would remain, while others would disperse before impact. When Kiba asked, Naruto pointed out that in a real fight, even if the shinobi that Choji were holding were dead, he'd still be a body, so that made it somewhat more realistic.

That had warranted a thoughtful nod from Kiba and Hinata - the team at the time.

Kiba liked working with Hinata, as far as her effectiveness. He thought, really, it was strange he didn't know her better ... but she was reliable, and surprisingly unhesitant against the bunshin, just going through their escort games as seriously as possible. She didn't get hit often, but when she did, she acknowledged the 'injury' and wouldn't use the affected limb.

More incentive not to get hit, he realized, after that cost them a game - one of those times that Naruto _did_ just swarm over them with an endless tide. The unintentional side-effect of being too slow for that escort. Naruto didn't hit as hard as Hana could, and his blows were feather-light compared to Tsume in serious training - but this was even _more_ serious training, and the more Kiba began to realize it, the more he wished that Akamaru was up to fighting strength.

Thinking about that, he resolved to spend more of his free time with his sister. The pup's growth couldn't be forced any more than Kiba's, but it could be optimized. And there was no way he wasn't going to do his best for his partner - just like Akamaru annoyingly reinforced Tsume's demands that Kiba finish his vegetables at dinner.

Damn soft foods.

But then, he was probably the toughest of all the genin in the rookie nine, and the biggest too - save Choji. And he could console himself with the fact that he was faster, too.

So, after the latest escort mission, this one a success, Kiba sniffed at the giveaway floral scent of an unexpected fellow genin. Akamaru sensed it, too, turning his head to face the side of the training ground where the 'castle' was. Currently, everyone was sitting inside the square, recovering their breath.

From the side of the clearing, Ino stumbled through a bush, shooting a baleful glance behind her before straightening up and marching forward, stopping a dozen paces away. "What are all of you doing, anyway? Isn't today supposed to be a day off?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and giving a suspicious gaze across the other six genin.

Shikamaru patted the hitai-ate on his armband. "Some of us want to make sure that if we fail ... it's not because of anything _we_ did," he answered.

Kiba frowned... He had scented Ino, and Sakura, too - they used very similar soaps. Sasuke had either thought to move down-wind, or had just been more cautious in general, stepping out from behind a tree. He looked at the setup with almost disdainful consideration before grudgingly admitting, "Improving our skills to the point where certain inferior teammates can be accounted for makes it much more likely we'll succeed."

The Inuzuka boy felt his hackles rise. Vague though it was, a snide remark like that... He knew Naruto would say something before he barked out his own complaint; as a friend of Naruto's, he kept himself poised, waiting for the blond to strike before following. Except that Naruto didn't say anything at all, just glowering at the Uchiha boy.

After a heartbeat of that, before he could really stare, Naruto seemed to force his gaze to Ino, his annoyance vanishing as he asked her - genuinely curious - "Is Sakura-chan here, too?"

Ino grimaced, rolling her eyes. "She's behind the huge tree - the one big enough for her forehead to fit behind."

"Hey!" Sakura screeched, blowing her cover to pop out from behind a very low shrub.

The Uchiha heir rolled his eyes. "They need all the help they can get," he said in a clipped tone.

"Sasuke!" Ino and Sakura complained together, giving him a pleading look - before breaking off to glare at one-another.

"Alright," Shikamaru sighed. "In that case ... I have a new idea. Naruto and I will provide the opposition."

Kiba frowned. This was probably going to be bad.

"How's it going to work?" Kiba asked, while Sasuke and the two girls who had followed him stepped closer to listen.

"Akamaru, you're the princess again," the shadow-user informed the puppy. Akamaru yapped acceptance of this.

"Another escort mission?" Choji groaned.

"Rescue mission," Shikamaru corrected, shaking his head. "So. Somehow, the rest of you have to figure out how to get into the castle. This time, you can't cross the walls without climbing all the way up a training post and then down the other side - to simulate breaking in. The castle will be filled with defenders. You need to figure out how to break in, rescue the princess, and kill the evil daimyo of Wind country for orchestrating the plan.

"Here are the rules - if the daimyo is attacked and the guards watching over the princess find out, then they will try and kill her. If she dies - mission failed. If the daimyo hears anything about invaders, he will call in his S rank nuke-nin ally. That's all of the information you've been given for this mission."

"Who are the assigned leaders for the offensive force?" Sasuke asked immediately.

"Not my problem," Shikamaru answered, standing up and indicating his chest with one thumb. "I'm a bad guy. Now run back to the start point and plan where we can't hear you, if you're smart. We'll start in five minutes - and the forest is filled with both bandits and low-level ninja scouts for the daimyo. Be careful!"

Kiba grinned. This might be fun - though he was almost positive that Akamaru would be 'killed' once or twice before they finally settled on a working plan.

* * *

Naruto had decided to follow Shikamaru's lead for arranging the bunshin that would be assigned roles - and then appropriately under henge - in the 'castle'. Akamaru even got a bunshin to play with and pet with him, so he wouldn't get bored and wander off before being rescued, in the form of one of the guards.

The most interesting part about the shadow-user's plan was that neither Naruto or Shikamaru had to be on the battlefield for the exercise.

That was a thought that hadn't occurred to the blond boy. He'd just thought it made more sense to be closer to what was happening, so he could respond faster. Shikamaru patiently returned that Naruto was actually pretty fast already - and once he learned shunshin, his bunshin would be able to cross considerable range. And since he got their experience anyway, why risk exposing himself?

He thought it felt a bit cowardly, but then ... if a bunshin with a henge to look like Iruka had been there, that night...

So, he could see the value in the technique, and a somewhat self-satisfied, cocky Shikamaru-bunshin appropriately lurked behind the daimyo, occasionally buffing his nails and otherwise looking totally confident that _everything_ had gone according to plan. The shadow-user eyed the bunshin and gave a grudging nod of approval, unable to hide his own smirk in response - which the bunshin immediately adjusted its henge to match.

It also had the side-effect of leaving his bunshin unable to communicate, except by speaking to one-another. Though, that actually made their efforts to model the battlefield more realistic - if the other genin were sneaky enough, then the bunshin in the castle would never know what happened until it was too late.

And in the meantime, Shikamaru explained, the others would develop tactics that worked against all of the bunshin in small groups. Which would be fine, because the next time, Naruto would be very familiar with that approach, and then appropriately defended. And in the meantime, all they needed to do was sit there and review what happened.

To try and lessen the impact of the potential bursts of memory, the pair retreated once more to Asuma's meditation spot. For lack of a better name, anyway. Naruto would know when the exercise was over, after all - unless, somehow, the others managed to rescue Akamaru without a single bunshin even noticing. From there, thinking of a book he had read on meditation, and the monk-like jounin's advice, he tried to blank his mind.

He wasn't really getting it - but he found it substantially boosted his ability to resist the sometimes compacted surges of experiences. Many of those were of simply lurking in wait in the forest - he found that those tended to fade away, for which he was grateful, even if he didn't understand why.

Kiba and Hinata were a very effective team, able to move around the periphery of the forest. Kiba would charge in first, with a fast but flashy attack, and almost always instantly overwhelm one of the scouts. On the offhand chance that he missed, or the bunshin was able to dodge, Hinata was there. And, well ... she knew enough about how Naruto tended to fight that his bunshin didn't stand much of a chance if she was especially serious about it.

The fort was too well defended for them to charge all the way in without being overwhelmed by the patrols, so they stopped there, needing to plan.

While Naruto knew where they were, his bunshin were unaware.

Shikamaru took his notepad and made summaries of Naruto's observation, already working out routines and policies that Naruto would be able to employ in the future to prevent being caught so unaware. That would increase the value of the training exercise for the others - and in the meantime, Naruto could also train himself to become a better scout.

The somewhat less effective Sasuke, Shino, and Ino team encountered a bit more resistance. The experience of a bunshin being controlled by Ino's mind-body technique... That was different. She seemed to suffer some strange backlash when that bunshin dispersed, and that was enough of a deterrent that she only did it once.

Her taijutsu wasn't very solid, and she absolutely had to hide behind Sasuke when they were pressed in heavy combat. She was decent with kunai, but his bunshin were able to deflect her shots as often as not - and then she lost time scrambling to recover her limited supply of throwing weapons. On the other hand ... the Uchiha heir was actually pretty tough - he could curve shuriken better than anyone else Naruto had seen, and he had an annoying fire-jutsu that frequently caught several bunshin at once.

Thanks to Sasuke charging ahead constantly, and Shino's more reserved stance, the bug-user ended up doing little but warn of incoming enemies - and berating the Uchiha heir for carelessly obliterating his kikaichu screens with that fire jutsu.

That same flare also tended to attract large groups of scouts and bandits - so by the time Kiba and Hinata reached the castle, the defenders were well aware of the commotion, and the S rank nuke-nin (just another bunshin, but one that would go all out), had been summoned.

Moving more slowly, Choji, and Sakura made a pretty effective team. Choji would draw all attackers, and Sakura would hide behind him - just like with Ino and Sasuke. The pink-haired girl, however, was a much more precise shot and had a pretty clever way of using the larger boy as cover to hide her throws, so his bunshin seldom saw it coming. She also covered his back more effectively than Ino did for the Uchiha heir, which he thought was a somewhat better balance, ultimately.

Shikamaru agreed, but scrawled constant updates in response to Naruto's reports, until the forest was finally cleared of defenders - thanks almost entirely to Sasuke.

Then again ... Naruto had a pretty solid grasp on the other boy's strategy by then, just like Shikamaru had promised. And he didn't have to worry about actually getting toasted by the jerk - Sasuke had completely ignored Ino's warning when she'd tried to use her family jutsu the first time, anyway. Not that he had anything against Ino, but she'd shunned Shino as 'a creepy bug user', so neither of them did a thing when she crashed to the forest floor. She needed to be nicer to Shino ... and Sasuke, really, he needed to be nicer to Ino, too.

The shadow user agreed once more, and the two began to very slowly stroll back towards the training ground. Since guards were going down in groups, the backlashes against the blond boy were becoming more severe; Shikamaru's jutsu allowed Naruto to ignore his own surroundings and focus on handling that information. Now that was an awesome teamwork skill!

Of course, he'd have to kill someone else to learn it, and, anyway, that was Shikamaru's family thing - which was pretty cool, too.

Still... It occurred to him, Shikamaru helping him walk down the street, if he weren't careful himself, he could end up like Ino, and need someone to watch his body while his bunshin ran around.

Then again ... if it weren't much more subtle for he and Shikamaru to be walking back the same way, he could just use more bunshin for that.

Focusing on sorting out the incoming reports, he determined that Kiba and Hinata had circled around to the rear entrance. Hinata's henge was pretty solid, so she approached the rear gate and made her way in, dragging an evidently comatose Kiba behind her.

He looked pretty beat up, too, from the memories of the guard that had been stabbed in the back when no one else was looking. Sakura and Choji arrived shortly after, trying the exact same gambit - surprisingly enough, Sakura could drag the larger boy while under a henge as one of the guards that had been lost in the forest. That strength seemed realistic ... but the Shikamaru-bunshin, trying to act like the shadow-user, said that was too simple - something wasn't right about two opponents being captured so easily.

All of the bunshin began demanding the secret password that Shikamaru suggested they arrange in advance.

Since it had been such a nuisance to have stuck in his head, each and every bunshin in turn quoted one of the lines from the first pages of the Classic of Tea in sequence - only Sakura managed the password, so that exposed Hinata, and in turn, Kiba.

From _there_, Sasuke had dismissed subtlety and was attempting to lead a frontal assault. The bunshin tending Akamaru was informed that the perimeter was breached and the daimyo had been attacked; unfortunately, the dog was now a casualty of the exercise - purely for politically reasons, of course. Akamaru obligingly whined and rolled onto his back, playing dead - and then the bunshin dispersed to report that the mission had failed while a fierce melee broke out in the fortress, the remaining forces still trying to repel all invaders.

The S rank missing nin and the daimyo put up a solid fight, but by the time Naruto and Shikamaru returned, there were only a handful of bunshin left, quickly dispersed by the now somewhat half-hearted attackers.

Shikamaru's jutsu faded, and Naruto gladly sat on the lawn at the side of the training ground to recover his breath and make his head stop spinning. It had still been a bit difficult to pull off - but he thought he was getting better at it. "Well, that was a disappointment," Sasuke judged, nodding at Ino.

The blond girl pouted, and Shino raised his head slightly as the Uchiha heir turned his gaze to indicate the bug-user, as well. "I shouldn't have been the one who had to kill them all," the Uchiha heir added.

"And if we had been more cautious, there would have been no reason to fight them at all," Shino countered. "Your display of bravado is a detriment to proper teamwork."

The Uchiha heir bristled, and everything else aside ... it had been a while since Naruto had gotten to win a fight. Sure, he was learning a lot, but Sasuke pissed him off. And it wasn't like he didn't remember an _awful_ lot of losing to the boy recently.

"You know, you're pretty damn predictable," he warned Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed furiously. "Big words for someone I defeated innumerable times already," he retorted.

That was true. "Yeah, okay - want to fight about it?" Naruto challenged, leaping to his feet and leaning towards the other boy, fists already rising. Man, he wanted nothing more than to kick the other boy's ass soundly - really show _him_ a thing or two!

"Fine," Sasuke spat. "Maybe it'll be less of a waste of time than the rest of this!"

Naruto tried to bite down his initial surge of anger that that. Okay, whatever - Sasuke was pretty much always an asshole. He wasn't going to be a total idiot, plus he'd watched Sasuke's typical approach a dozen or more times already. He moved to the training ground purposefully, then took up a position before one of the posts there.

The other genin had all stilled, probably expecting this to happen for some time. "Kick his butt, Sasuke!" Ino cheered. "I know you can do it!"

"Yeah!" Sakura cried, trying to out-shout the other girl. "Naruto's nothing - you can beat him _easy_!"

God _damn_ it!

"Don't kill him," Hinata encouraged.

He looked at her sharply, surprised at the words.

Flustered, she quickly added, "I...if you kill Sasuke, we'll fail for sure!"

Everyone else turned to stare at Hinata.

"W...well, it's true," she said, looking somewhat irritable.

"She's got a point," Shikamaru allowed. "Alright - let's set some baselines, if you two really have to do this. No maiming, and nothing that will piss of the sensei squad - or we all pay for it. Got it?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke gave a stiff nod at that, as all attention returned to them.

"May the best man win," Shino said, somewhat dubiously.

Snorting, Kiba shook his head, Akamaru already perched there once more. "That's you, Naruto," he noted, earning him a fierce elbow in the ribs from Sakura, and a sharp glare from Ino.

"Let's get this stupidity over with," Shikamaru said, giving Naruto a stealthy wink.

Nodding, Naruto squared his jaw. The first part of fighting smarter was playing dumb - and that meant that he had to use the same approach his bunshin had used in the forest. So, he charged with a loud yell, throwing himself into an arcing jump towards Sasuke, already forming his favorite hand seal.

Completely unsurprisingly, Sasuke responded to Naruto's jump commitment with his fire jutsu, probably expecting a scorched blond to yield instantly at the singeing. Instead, while a smug Uchiha waited for the smoke to clear, the point of a kunai pressed against the small of his back, and two more touched either side of his throat.

"I call this a win," one of the three bunshin behind Sasuke declared, while the majority of the genin were staring with wide-eyed surprise. Shikamaru couldn't help but hide a small smirk, Shino gave an approving nod, and Hinata gave an exuberant grin.

"H...how?" Sasuke protested.

"A bunshin may go away in one hit, but that level of your fire jutsu doesn't actually pack much of a punch," the bunshin directly behind Sasuke said, shrugging.

In response, Sasuke moved with stunning swiftness, slamming his head backwards into the face of the central bunshin, drawing his neck away from the kunai of the others. All three dispersed.

Naruto himself, uncaring about the mild singeing, emerged from the last of the smoke, and once again Sasuke was pinned between three bunshin. He himself held his kunai perfectly steady, poised above Sasuke's throat, and finally the Uchiha heir's face contorted and he snarled, "You tricked me."

"I find myself alarmed at how frequently this needs to be brought up," Shikamaru warned, "but we are _ninja_. Okay, boys - wrap it up. Naruto won, and we all saw it."

Naruto signaled his bunshin to disperse and carefully drew away from Sasuke. The shadow user pulled away from the others to clap his shoulder in congratulation, then warned in a very low tone, "You gave away one of your best tricks - if you fight him without learning some new ones, he _will_ kick your ass next time."

_Damn_ it!

Shikamaru was right, though... Well, at least he'd gotten to pull a fast one on Sasuke. Thinking back, though he hadn't really _planned_ it that way... His own clones had the limitation of not being able to learn from the mistakes of others - unless those others were produced after they had dispersed. In that way, they had instilled Sasuke with a false sense of confidence due to their inability to adapt.

Suddenly, what Shikamaru and Shino had been saying about strategy - about 'showing his hand'... Those things clicked into place. He felt chagrined that it had taken such an incident to learn.

"I don't think it counts," Ino protests. "Naruto used a cheap trick!"

"Surviving a fire attack that would disperse a bunshin?" Naruto asked sharply. "What was I supposed to do, burn up and die?"

"Yeah!" Sakura said, though her voice lacked conviction, and she seemed troubled. "You shouldn't have hid in the smoke and then made bunshin to hold him up like that!"

"Oh, shut up - I don't need your excuses to make me weak like you," Sasuke snapped, glaring at the girls, completely dismissing Naruto. The blond boy shivered at the coldness of his eyes, remembering Shikamaru's warning. "I left an opening through overconfidence and he exploited it."

Unspoken was the implication that it wouldn't happen again.

"Well, pride goes before a fall, and all that," Shikamaru said dismissively. "But, you know what? I'm ready to call it a day after this training exercise. I feel like we learned a lot!"

"How did you get out of there, anyway?" Kiba wondered.

"Kawarimi," he lied effortlessly. "It's a more powerful jutsu than a lot of people give it credit for. Mostly, I'm impressed that Sakura knew the Classic of Tea."

The pink-haired girl blushed slightly. "I didn't know _Naruto_ knew it," she confessed, shrugging. Turning to the blond, she grudgingly asked, "When did you learn it, anyway?"

"I read it few days ago, I think," he answered. "Or ... a few weeks. It's hard to really be sure."

She gave him a sharp look at that. "What?"

He waved a hand, dismissing the question. "I'm going to hang out with Shikamaru and Shino - we usually get something to eat after training."

"I like the idea of that," Choji agreed swiftly.

"I'm on board," Kiba yelped excitedly.

Ino wondered, "Senzo's?"

Sasuke grunted wordlessly and walked away, back to Konoha.

Well, good riddance, Naruto thought. "Hey, hey! Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, why don't you come with us?" he suggested eagerly.

"Yes! Okay!" Hinata agreed without hesitation, moving to his side with a bright smile. "Um, will we be practicing taijutsu, later?"

"Yeah!"

"I guess I'll go," Sakura sighed reluctantly, her gaze following Sasuke as he slipped between the trees.

* * *

Anko couldn't help but grin at the antics of the Chibikage and his training exercises. They were actually fairly inspired - and that Naruto kid - he'd been below her radar, before, but now that she'd gotten to see him in action... Oooh, him and the Chibikage would be all _kinds_ of badass together.

She had no idea what the other teachers were up to, but if the genin were going to get together _anyway_, she decided her time was best spent watching them.

She especially liked the way that Naruto had handled Sasuke - that had to take some growing. And since he was so worried for Naruto, Kakashi should be happy, too.

Though, in the other coils...

The Uchiha kid wasn't likely to respond well to that treatment. Well ... with some grooming, the two should become proper rivals, not bitter foes. Kakashi should be able to help with that.

There might be a few broken bones and split lips, but she suspected the pair wouldn't _really_ kill one-another, Hinata's charming little judgments aside. Naruto would always want to prove himself against the sharingan-user, and Sasuke would grudgingly acknowledge that Naruto was an effective, if unconventional ninja that he'd feel a need to surpass.

So that didn't bother her.

There wasn't an initial _plan_ to hide her observations from the other jounin - at least, some of them. But the way that Kurenai dismissed Shikamaru had somehow irked her. And that was fine by Anko; she was more than willing to let the genjutsu mistress get bitten in the ass.

She coddled her charges too much anyway.

Given a chance to watch the genin in play, she didn't have a lot to add to any of their observations, aside from the fact that Naruto seemed to be keenly aware of his genuine combat ability - and intensely motivated to improve that. His use of bunshin constantly in training... Anko had _heard_ of the practice, and once or twice tried to use it on chakra manipulation exercises.

But remembering the experiences of doing a single task twice only made it more boring.

Either Naruto had an unusually resilient mind to absorb the constant experiences he was generating, or he was going to push himself to some horrific madness. Maybe even become one of those bizarrely powerful psychotic ninja with a personal loyal crew of remorseless killers. He just needed an obsessive kunoichi or two willing to give her life for him, and hell - with Shikamaru backing him, that was the basis for the kind of insane genius that started a shinobi war!

Yeah ... she could see why the Hokage wanted this group watched - but what _fun_!

Once he got over whatever trauma there was from the circumstances of his promotion, and his original enthusiasm was rekindled... He could take his existing sneakiness and drive to prank and _multiply_ it ... yeah, that could have reaching consequences. Ah ... maybe that could be tempered by assigning him a teammate with a bit less spunk; someone he'd have to watch over and protect. Not Sakura, because she needed to develop her own strengths - and Naruto had a crush on her.

So, Ino was a great candidate for that; her style was going to require someone who could support her.

And the blond boy was likewise an ideal choice for that, given he could leave a bunshin to watch over her - or play sneakier and watch over her himself while using his bunshin to fight. For him, protecting the blonde would be practically incidental - no genuine impact on his efficiency. She'd need to see if she could convince the jounin crew to put the pair into a team, and soon.

In fact ... pairing her with someone who made a capable partner for her might give her a chance to shine over Sakura - something positive to start a more productive rivalry between the two of them. Not for the first time, she wished she hadn't been forbidden from interacting with the children. It would be pretty straightforward to take down Sakura and Ino and slap some sense into them.

Withholding an antidote could provide _so_ much motivation!

Come to think of it ... she'd better nag Kurenai about a very important Talk with the kunoichi trio about the dangers of _being_ kunoichi - instead of shinobi. Or maybe she could spread it around, make the boys listen in, too - that would be funny to watch. And Kurenai would be put through the awkward discomfort of having to explain it three times!

And that was when she realized that she was feeling vindictively bitchy because Kakashi had deserted her. Had she somehow gone overboard somewhere she hadn't realized? Actually pissed him off when she thought things were - weirdly - starting to kind of sort of actually work out?

Fuck.

How had that asshole gotten into her like that? She'd thought she was better then that.

And here she was starting to feel happiness while playing 'house' with the one-eyed- Oh, Bastard-sensei was a worthy title indeed...

* * *

After reaching Shikamaru's house, Naruto was disappointed - along with Hinata and Shino - to be turned away. For whatever reason, an irritable Shikaku immediately ordered his son to the family training ground, insisting that it was time to work on his clan jutsu. The shadow-user shrugged and obediently followed his clan head's order.

Shino remarked that it might be opportune to see if he couldn't approach his own family for training, since he'd spent so much time away from home. Hinata then wanted to train, but even though it was early afternoon ... she was too tired.

She'd earnestly began the first attack, and then just stumbled into Naruto in a faint. When she roused, she insisted she try again.

Naruto wasn't positive, but he was starting to suspect that she was pushing herself too hard, somehow. So, he told her she should rest, because real ninja wouldn't want to keep themselves exhausted.

After both reflexively looked around for another of Bastard-sensei's exploding tags, Hinata had reluctantly agreed to go home and get some sleep - and Naruto had walked her there, encouraging her that whatever else happened, they had one more day of being on a team together. She seemed cheered by that, and sleepily promised that they would practice even harder the next day before yawning and stumbling through the formidable gates to her family's estate.

Without anything else to do, he'd intended to go to the memorial stone, to remember Iruka - but alarmingly enough, the hated figure of Bastard-sensei was already there!

Frustrated, Naruto went to the next best place - the Academy. When he got there, an unfamiliar woman with red hair done up in a braid was sitting behind Iruka's desk. Her hitai-ate wasn't worn on her head, but about her waist - like Ino's. A pair of subdued blue eyes flicked up to meet him before going back to the paperwork on the desk before her.

"You're a genin," the redheaded woman noted. "You shouldn't need to come to the Academy. Did your jounin-sensei send you here for something?"

"No," Naruto confessed, eying Iruka's replacement mistrustfully. "I... Uh, did you know Iruka-sensei?"

The woman adjusted her position, setting down her pen and regarding Naruto in a different light. "Ah," she said after a moment, when recognition seemed to set in. "As a matter of fact, I did. He was a genin when we first met. Some time ago... I'm sorry, were you friends with him?"

Naruto allowed a nod for the strange woman.

After a hesitant moment, she said, "Well ... you know, he left notes behind on you. He seemed to think you were quite a student - he hoped some day to see you become a respected ninja of Konoha. Your dream was some day to become the Hokage, right?"

"I'm gonna be Hokage," Naruto said with confidence he wished he could feel.

One red eyebrow rose. "Oh, yeah?" she asked, smiling softly.

"Yeah," he said in return, nodding.

"Well, good for you," she returned. "But, you've got a jounin-sensei, don't you?"

"Took the day off," Naruto grudgingly allowed.

The new head chunin instructor shook her head sadly. "Well, I'm just an Academy instructor - if you're a genin, you should already know everything I'm supposed to teach."

"Yeah," he sighed, shaking his head. Enough of that - this stranger was no replacement for Iruka.

Without anyone else to hang out with, he resigned himself to returning to his apartment alone. "Oh," she called, hefting a scroll from the desk. "Do me a favor - take this with you on your way out. You should meet my brother, and he'll give you something to eat for your help, eh?"

"How will I recognize him?" Naruto wondered, even as his stomach compelled him to accept the task.

"He dresses just like me," she answered, handing the scroll over, then turning to focus on her paperwork.

Nodding dubiously, the blond wasn't really surprised to run into a man who _did_ in fact look remarkably like the redhead - except his hair was dark, his eyes were gray, and he was slightly taller, filling out an identical outfit in different ways - though he, too, wore his hitai-ate as a belt. "Yo," he called nonchalantly, striding past Naruto.

"Wait!" he called, waving the scroll. "Your sister said to give this to you?"

The man raised an eyebrow after pausing, then accepted it. "Ah," he said, nodding. "Alright, thanks, then ... what's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," he answered proudly.

"Huh... Alright, Uzumaki, come with me for something to eat to pay you back for that."

For the promise of food, the blond fell in step beside the man, watching him close and lock the Academy building's main door. After the door closed, a snooty looking man with dark glasses rounded the corner of the building from the direction of the Hokage's tower. "I say," he said, giving Naruto a cold eyed glare. Turning his attention to the chunin, he sniffed, handing over a stack of paper. "These are from Hokage-sama - for you to process."

"Thanks," the man said dryly, accepting the paperwork. "What's with the attitude, Ebi-chan?"

Naruto laughed aloud at the chunin openly mocking the man who looked to be a special jounin. 'Ebi-chan' stiffened visibly, his glare heating up and focused completely on the dark-haired man. "Don't be so proud, Kuonji," he snapped. "I _do_ outrank you!"

"Ask me if I care," Kuonji replied boredly. "The Hokage confirmed my assignment here personally. If you want to fight about it, let's make it quick - I want to eat."

'Ebi-chan' sneered and whirled away, vanishing in shunshin.

Naruto blinked and eyed the man at his side. "What's that all about?" he wondered, still chuckling.

"Oh, I don't like how he behaves," Kuonji replied lazily. "He's a crappy role-model, and a total idiot about keeping S rank secrets."

The blond jolted at that reminder and fixed the dark haired man with a suspicious gaze.

"Oh, I was there, so I remember," he added softly. No one else was immediately around, and one of the man's hands shaped some subtle seal - a mild gust of wind bore down around them, leaving them unaffected but masking their words from the nearest bystanders. "So, I know who you really are. You're the one who keeps it safely locked away. You may just now be a genin, but you've defended Konoha almost as long as you've drawn breath." He winked at that, showing a mild smile...

And Naruto couldn't help but feel slightly warmed by that. Recognition, and an utter refusal of Mizuki's words... The wind jutsu faded and Naruto sniffled, falling into step behind the teacher. And that sentiment, it echoed Iruka's, too.

Well, he and his sister together - _maybe_ they would be half as cool as Iruka. And maybe Naruto could even forgive the guy for taking him to eat okonomiyaki instead of ramen. He seemed alright, and thanks to that, well ... he didn't have to be alone.

That was alright, he supposed. Better than the alternative, anyway.

* * *

Vaguely haunted by Danzo's inexplicable pressure, and the fact that she knew nothing about the circumstances around it, Kurenai had found herself sleeping poorly. Asuma offered almost nothing in the way of assurance beyond a vague supposition that they shouldn't worry about things they couldn't effect.

Which was not at all reassuring. Anko had been there, too, needling Kakashi especially, for whatever reason. The one eyed sharingan user himself was somewhat subdued, wordlessly accepting the special jounin's unsubtle jabs. The genjutsu mistress was beginning to regret suggesting she was a positive influence, and Anko had been strangely demanding with regards to placing the genin in the next rotation.

When Asuma questioned why, Anko had gleefully offered a _deluge_ of information regarding the rookie nine undertaking a joint training exercise without _any_ external prompting.

Even Kakashi didn't bother concealing his surprise at that.

So she arrived at the meeting site for her students and waited for Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto had arrived very early, looking strangely forlorn, then sat tiredly on the ground nearby his teacher, waiting for his fellow students to arrive. Sasuke showed up next, eying Naruto warily.

Running up, looking embarrassed and huffing for breath, Hinata was the last to arrive, nearly five minutes late.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed worriedly, jumping to his feet. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I just ... overslept," she confessed with quiet shame. "U...um, I guess I ... overdid it a bit."

Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Well, today shouldn't be too strenuous for you - but it is important to make sure you sleep properly," Kurenai warned, trying to give her students an encouraging smile, not betraying her concern about the unknowns.

"Today," she continued, surveying her charges, "we will study conduct..." She launched into the lecture she had already become tired of, then brought out the leaf exercise.

When Naruto sighed and accepted the leaf without complaint, she suggested that this was a precursor to learning to walk on trees - and then walls, and eventually, water. That encouraged him enough to focus - though to her senses he was _hemorrhaging_ chakra when he did.

Hinata and Sasuke were both solid in their execution of the exercise - though Hinata showed exceptional refinement.

Except, Naruto couldn't focus himself on the leaf _and_ listen to the lecture. Sasuke snorted at him derisively, and in response, Naruto simply spawned a bunshin, which borrowed his notebook and pen, taking notes while the real Naruto turned his back to Sasuke and focused on nothing else but the leaf.

She didn't want to encourage such behavior, really, but she was supposed to be the nicer teacher, and she had to admit ... it was the best benefit he'd get out of the exercise. It would also prevent him from falling behind the other genin - to say nothing of the fact that it was a valid technique, and he really _could_ do the same in the field. He was also proud to show off his remarkably improved henge, which she hadn't expected.

How intense was the training they had opted to do without supervision, anyway? For some reason, she thought Anko hadn't said everything that had gone on.

Kurenai encouraged him that he really had gotten better - and then reminded him to work on his kawarimi as well. He fervently agreed, creating another quartet of bunshin, just to run out and then practice the technique on one another at the edge of the training ground.

Sasuke watched intently, until his focus was brought back to the lesson. She really hoped that through this all, she was at least making some positive impression on the three, and especially in Naruto's case.

But she knew one thing - her agitation hadn't settled in the slightest.

* * *

Being forced to attend Bastard-sensei's training with Ino and Sakura was a decided nightmare. The two were slowly putting effort into at least getting along - and with him around, their ire was focused more on him then the other.

Which he considered a sort of compromise, if not at all what he'd hoped for.

Kakashi had as much sympathy for him as he had for the girls.

Net result, constant painful collisions against the girls, since there were no Naruto bunshin around to throw him into. The girls were likewise tossed at him, or one-another.

Shikamaru tried to retreat with the girls to strategize-

Explosive tags.

'Real ninja should have better coordination when needing to escape from overwhelming force, my cute little students!'

God damn that ninja's lack of creativity.

Why couldn't _they_ buy explosive tags yet, anyway?

So, they regrouped, attacked, and in a stunning display of Bastard-sensei's favorite and most bullshit jutsu, Shikamaru got to experience Ino kicking him straight out of his own head to watch her fumble around and take a beating from Kakashi, all viewed from the extreme depths of his own subconscious. At least the pain was somewhat muted, until she fled back to her own body, getting up just in time to-

Explosive tags.

What a shock.

"Yeah, your cute little ninja students should have contingencies in place for shit like this," Shikamaru snapped, pulling himself out of the shrub he and Sakura had both been blasted into.

"That's right!"

Aaand ... more explosive tags. _This_ time he got a kawarimi off in time to escape.

Couldn't say that was entirely undeserved... After that, determined that they were going to be tossed around constantly anyway, Ino and Sakura began their sniping at one-another.

This was where things became interesting to Shikamaru-

Explosi-

Kawarimi-

-and _fuck_, that was close - keep moving to avoid the next barrage of explosive tags - Bastard-sensei could be pretty unrelenting.

"Don't reveal the weaknesses of your allies in a battle, my cute little students!" he warned, sending a significantly greater share of tags towards the girls.

"Now, your weak points have been revealed - prepare for unrelenting assault!" He folded away his book and produced a permanent marker in one hand, and a pair of eyebrow tweezers in the other.

Shikamaru admitted genuine, grudging admiration for the man, right then, especially since with both hands full, he couldn't-

Explosive tags.

_Son of a bitch_.

"Real ninja shouldn't watch their teammates suffer without helping!"

Okay, he might be a magnificent bastard, but he was still Bastard-sensei.

No gloating, but he wouldn't talk back, that resulted in more explosions. Ino and Sakura were about to be getting a personal lesson on the cost of inner-team animosity, and at the same time ... Shikamaru wondered if Kakashi knew what he'd done to the girls in Senzo's, and wanted to remind everyone that _he_, in point of fact, was the biggest asshole on the block.

Somehow, that seemed very likely as the one-eyed ninja proceeded to methodically disassemble them with his normal taijutsu tactics, letting Ino's next attempt at the mind-body transfer technique kawarimi her into Sakura. This time, Bastard-sensei immediately followed it by dropping an explosive tag and using kawarimi again to deposit Shikamaru inside the blast range, now letting him hold Ino's body hostage.

Ino-Sakura howled in protest and then twitched, falling down before Ino began to struggle in Kakashi's grasp.

Recovering from the latest blast, his hearing a bit off in one ear, Shikamaru wheezed, "Time out! This 'real' ninja would have died on the battlefield by now!"

"That's right, my cute little student!" Kakashi agreed, far too cheerfully. "And so did this one here," he added, hefting Ino easily in one hand - still flailing and protesting ineffectually. "That poor little pink-haired student is now alone without allies! She's not much of a match for any skilled team, on account of numbers alone!"

He then flung Ino, and even though part of him wanted to just watch her tumble, Shikamaru managed to run to half-catch her. It worked out, mostly - she'd half-righted herself, resulting into her slamming into him in an awkward embrace before they crashed to the ground. Sakura sniffed, looking down at the pair and saying, "Well, that settles _that_ - since you two are so close, that leaves Sasuke to _me_!"

Shikamaru reached up and made an angry shushing motion to Ino. She glared at him, as Bastard-sensei noted, "I actually do reward teamwork."

When the blonde looked up, Sakura had just been sent into another explosion courtesy of the most brokenly powerful basic jutsu Shikamaru had ever seen used.

God _damn_ that man was smooth. Hoping to buy some time on the 'teamwork' ideal, Shikamaru popped to his feet, Ino wide-eyed and unresisting as he jogged a few steps before she squirmed out of his grasp and hit the ground running, landing at his side. The pair of them reached the crater where Sakura was staggering with wide, genuinely frightened eyes, and they snagged her between them, bearing the lightweight pink-haired kunoichi away from Kakashi - and hopefully outside of his kawarimi range, at least briefly.

And, what do you know ... no explosive tags.

Well, the girls seemed to get _that_ much quickly enough.

* * *

After a relatively boring day of meditation with Choji and Shino, Kiba was personally eager to get back to more of training with Naruto and Shikamaru - _that_ had been fun, and felt a hell of a lot more productive than any of the other training they'd gotten. They met up at Senzo's as was the custom, and their teachers came around to assign their new teams.

Kiba had to wince sympathetically for Naruto, being assigned Kakashi in the morning - and worse, Ino and Sakura with him. Ino actually burst into tears at the thought of two consecutive days beneath Bastard-sensei's guidance, which Kakashi cheerfully ignored.

Sakura released a whimpering moan, shaking her head at the thought - Naruto himself seemed largely indifferent, surprisingly enough. Then again, Kiba remembered, he liked the gray-haired girl. Maybe that canceled his annoyance with the one-eyed bastard.

After that Kurenai showed up to notify Hinata, Choji, and Sasuke to show up for training with her, and Kiba deduced that left him with Shino and Shikamaru.

What the hell - those two were a solid asset in any fight. No complaints from Kiba at all on that count. Asuma would be boring as hell, and the eternally solemn bearded man insisted that even Akamaru follow along with the meditation practice - just like Kurenai put the dog through the concentration exercise.

And complaining about that to Tsume had brought down not only her ire, but Hana's wrath for neglecting that part of Akamaru's development!

So, Akamaru would reluctantly do _that_ while they were meditating, which was okay... But, hell, he'd rather run and play.

At least Kakashi had the decency to always kidnap Akamaru at the beginning of the fight, and then pet the dog affectionately while beating the crap out of everyone else.

Once or twice, Akamaru had been sent running off, and insisted when he returned that he'd actually trained in his tracking skills with another nin-dog - named Pakkun. Kiba was pretty sure that Bastard-sensei was just hitting the dog with some genjutsu to get him out of harm's way ... which was probably for the best for the moment. Still, he hoped it suggested that each instance of Akamaru vanishing meant that they'd actually distracted the man. His little gray book seemed to occupy his attention more than the fights, though...

Another puzzle he couldn't figure out. He never got close enough to read any of the title, but Kiba could tell it smelled very faintly of a woman's soap. Possibly just a bizarre affectation of the man - he smelled slightly of the same himself.

Sasuke quickly stalked away after figuring out where he had to go - Ino and Sakura followed halfheartedly, but Kiba didn't believe that they'd really manage to trail him very far before he evaded them.

"So," he asked, elbowing Naruto companionably, "who's up for some extra practice, anyway?"

"My father wants to practice with me more," Shikamaru sighed. "I shouldn't really complain ... it prepares me for the more advanced forms of our jutsu, but it is _weary_ing."

"Likewise, my clan wishes to address a lapse in my own training," Shino agreed.

"M...my father wants to talk to me about something this evening," Hinata echoed, lowering her gaze to the table. "I w...was ordered..."

"Aw, that's a bummer, Hinata-chan," Naruto sighed. "Well, I guess your family stuff's important, right?"

The Hyuuga girl looked simultaneously relieved and depressed, if that were possible.

Huh ... that left Choji, Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruto.

"My father wanted to do something with me, too," Choji apologized, shrugging.

Oh, damn it!

Well... He really would rather have done more of those training games. If that wasn't an option... "Hey, Naruto," he suggested, "how about coming over to my place? We can mouth off to my mom and get thrown around a bunch - practice for tomorrow, eh?"

Surprisingly, Naruto perked up at that. "Really?"

Kiba snorted, nodding. "'Course," he huffed. "You got something better to do with your time?"

He paused, then shrugged, grinning. "Not really," he admitted.

Shortly after that, they were at the Inuzuka compound, and Kiba proudly attempted to introduce his friend to his mother. "Hey, Mom!" he said cheerfully, jogging up to the surly woman from where she was surveying a handful of young nin-dogs on the lawn.

She shot him a very sharp look, warning of a backhand if he didn't watch himself.

Okay, so she'd started off in a bad mood already ... more of that famous attitude that drove Kiba's father away. Bless his soul for surviving long enough to spawn a son after Hana was born. "Who's your friend?" she asked, sniffing unashamedly towards Naruto, as some of the nin-dogs whimpered and shied away from the light-gray haired boy for some reason.

"This is Uzumaki Naruto," he said patiently. "We're on the same team." Kind of. They would be at some point, anyway.

Tsume frowned intently. "Boy," she growled in warning to Naruto, "what family do you have?"

"None," Naruto responded tightly, starting to return the woman's glare. Yeah ... not the best possible meeting.

The woman's ire abruptly shifted focus, and the promised backhand arrived, knocking Kiba tumbling into the pile of skittish nin-dogs.

"Your teammate has no other family, and you haven't brought him in to your home yet?" she barked sharply. "Kiba..."

Nursing a sore jaw, and significantly more bruised pride, Kiba rose to his feet, stooping to collect Akamaru from where he had tumbled off, landing on his feet from long practice. "Mom!" he whined.

"And what kind of offensive style do you use?" she snapped at Naruto tersely.

"I ... uh ... don't have a specific one, really," Naruto allowed, startled into wide-eyed compliance. "Just kind of what they taught at the Academy."

Her eyes narrowed. "What a dog-dammed waste," she snarled. "Both of you get your asses into the dojo - no one who watches _my_ son's back is going to go about without something resembling proper training! And Kiba! You've been _lazy_!" Turning to the largest building on the Inuzuka compound she howled, "Hana! Beat some sense into these kids!"

From within the other building, Hana's hollered return was, "'Kay, Mom - be there in a minute or two!"

"So," Kiba said, indicating his mom and the compound in general, "you've met the folks - let's get to the dojo." That in mind, he gave Tsume what he considered a reasonably cautious berth and circled around towards the training facilities.

Cowed and confused, Naruto followed the other boy. "I...is your mom always like this?" he asked Kiba.

The Inuzuka boy snorted, rolling his eyes. "This is a good day - Hana's a hell of a lot nicer than my mom!"

Naruto looked as impressed as he should have at that. Kiba knew he was from a tough family, and he was proud of it - just like Akamaru. Hell, one-on-one, the only people Kiba wasn't confident he could beat among the genin were Choji, and maybe Sasuke, because of that fire trick he used to try and toast Naruto.

That was a bit dirty for a 'friendly' match - and he knew the Uchiha heir was more likely than not to try and exact some form of revenge for Naruto's easy victory. But, hell, Naruto was not just a friend, he'd been a real asset - if a strange one - to everyone's training. He kind of liked the idea of including the Uzumaki boy in his own personal pack ... and if they were going to be teammates, there wasn't any real reason to complain about him knowing how to coordinate better with an Inuzuka.

After all, even Akamaru liked Naruto.

So, Hana tossed the pair of them around, apologizing to both of them that the style depended on partners and coordinating with them. The three of them had to fight her and _her_ three dogs, each of which was large enough to easily knock Naruto or Kiba down. To say nothing of humiliating Akamaru by grabbing the scruff of his neck and just retreating to a corner to dangle him mockingly.

Towards the end of the fray, Kiba and Naruto even managed to work together well enough to keep each-other upright. Hana beamed a smile at them, encouraged that they were coordinating - and then she and one of her partner-dogs launched right into them with a fierce gatsuga, sending Kiba straight back into the wall, and Naruto bouncing towards the dojo entrance.

Just in time to see Tsume walking away from some disgruntled nin-dogs that would have nothing to do with her failed cooking experiment. "Hana, feed the dogs," she growled. "We've having takeout."

"Oh, that's a real treat," Hana said, managing to hide any trace of irony. "'Kay, Mom," she added, bowing when Tsume gave her a sharp look.

The Inuzuka matriarch nodded and eyed what she considered to be her immediate pack, herding them silently and obediently before her.

"Your mom is kinda cool," Naruto whispered, when Tsume seemed distracted by her own companion's murmur - in the dog language, so Naruto hadn't understood.

"Yeah, I know," Kiba whispered back. "Don't let her hear that."

The two shared a secretive smile, and Kiba couldn't help but think of past pranks.

Yeah, this whole thing was just stupid and crazy enough to work. Why not?

* * *

Author's notes: Kiba's color-blindness isn't really portrayed accurately; it's meant to be a kind of narrative joke. Might not really work. :x


	6. Chapter 6

Motivation Chapter Six

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. Some tinting is borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

Becoming a genin had not been what Ino expected. So far, pretty much every expectation she'd actually had was overturned.

Given a choice of teachers, she thought she liked Kurenai best - Asuma seemed okay, if a bit lazy, and she already knew the basics of what he was teaching everyone else. As for Kakashi, well ... the only _good_ thing about him was the fact that he'd called her Sasuke's girlfriend!

Okay, yeah, there was a conditional to that - but damn it all, she was going to cling to _something_ positive. Shikamaru had pretty much gotten to be the leader of the group ... well, at least, Sasuke agreed to let him be in charge. So she'd really expected more of him, and after the stunt he'd pulled locking down her and Sakura in Senzo's, she was annoyed with him enough.

Follow that up with that dumb training exercise that he and Naruto had cooked up...

At least Sasuke had been there. As it was, she was getting really sick of Shikamaru being right all the time.

Still, she wasn't stupid herself. If Shikamaru had figured something out ... well, he should be able to come up with some plan to make _another_ day of both Sakura and Kakashi survivable. That thought in mind, she tried to subtly prod her father into visiting Shikamaru's - they were friends after all.

If there was one thing she didn't like about her father, it was the fact that she couldn't sneak a damn thing by him.

So, she'd started a conversation, opening up with a comment about how she was finding the teamwork exercises interesting.

He blinked at her for a quiet minute, and then answered that he'd give her the window of opportunity she was looking for, but that she'd have to spend more time working on her jutsu anyway.

She'd reluctantly agreed, even though she was personally starting to think it wasn't dependable enough for her recent activities. Or maybe there was just something weird about trying to possess kage bunshin, instead of real people? Well, at least her father had promised to help her work on some sensing ability related to the clan art - that sounded a hell of a lot less likely to leave her stuck with teammates that just let her fall down when she sent her mind into an enemy.

Stupid Shino.

Stupid...

Ugh.

Which brought her to the unpleasant moment, prepared, but not truly thrilled to execute the plan she'd begged from Shikamaru. Naruto sat cross-legged on the railing of the bridge where they were supposed to meet Kakashi. He nodded at her in greeting but said nothing, seeming to sink into some grim distracting thought. At least, she thought he looked pretty unhappy. An elderly, balding man in dull blue robes leaned on his cane and stared across the river a dozen yards away, on the other side of the bridge; there was no sign of either Sakura of their teacher.

She studied the other golden-haired figure for a moment, not bothering to be subtle about it - but he didn't notice, still lost in his own distractions. Not Sasuke's deeply insightful contemplations about his dreams of restoring his clan. Naruto was probably thinking of something stupid.

If she were as good as her father, she wouldn't have to guess, and could just skim it off his mind. Seeing as that was significantly beyond her ability, she asked him, "What's got you so bothered?"

He shook himself, blinking, then shrugged, looking up at the mostly clear sky. "Just this dream I have every night," he mumbled. Then he shook his head again. "I don't want to think about it- Oh, hey-" He brightened, turning his attention to her. "You know the trick for not thinking about stuff, right? Maybe that'll help!"

"Maybe," Ino allowed, giving him a cautious smile.

She glanced to one side as Sakura approached warily, nodding at Naruto grudgingly in recognition.

Ino steeled herself - she could do this. Sure ... Naruto had embarrassed Sasuke through trickery, and he was kind of a nuisance ... but it would be worth it to bother Sakura. And, hell, maybe get some kind of ally against Kakashi.

Naruto smiled brightly at Sakura. "Good morning, Sakura-chan!" he said cheerfully. Then his eyes widened at some thought, and he almost overbalanced from where he sat. He adjusted his position, both palms flat on the railing below him as he set his toes nearby, crouched over almost as though he was ready to pounce, his face lighting up with hope. "Hey, hey! Sakura-chan, since we're on a team, why don't we go on a date after we finish today's training?"

"Why don't you go on a date with _Ino_?" she countered.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" the blonde agreed before Naruto could protest - or stick his foot in his mouth.

Sakura blinked, staring at Ino and too stunned to follow-up. The blond boy blinked as well, turning to look at her in surprise and confusion.

"We're going to be on the same team, right?" she asked, giving Naruto a friendly smile. "Just like you said earlier!"

He worked his jaw for a moment, then nodded, still trying to puzzle her out.

"Well - it's not like a _romantic_ date, but that's a good chance to learn more about each other, isn't it? And, say, we can look at it like training for what to do on a real date!"

He managed another blink. Sakura shook her head as though to dispel a strange illusion and gave her a very hard stare.

"I mean ... I don't know you very well personally, but Sakura's been rejecting you for _years_, right? Wouldn't you rather be teammates with someone who was willing to at least go on one date with you?"

"U...uh," he mumbled, looking between Ino and Sakura hesitantly.

"Y...yeah, go for it, Naruto," Sakura encouraged, shaking her head again. "Really - I'd love it if you two would leave me alone!"

_Perfect_.

Naruto looked stunned, and nearly overbalanced off the railing again at that, his face showing hurt before he tried to mask it. Even the elderly man on the other side of the bridge glanced towards her with a frown. "Well- W...well... O...okay, Ino..."

"Call me Ino-chan!" she chirped at him brightly. Holy _crap_ this was easier than she had expected! Sakura had pretty much walked right into it!

"Uh ... okay, Ino-chan." He nodded at that, offering her a timid, confused smile.

"Great!" she cheered. "So, as soon as training is over and we all finish our group meeting, right?"

"Alright- Okay, you know what? No, this is just-" Sakura sighed and shook her head. "Ino, why are you screwing with Naruto like that? I don't really care, but you're just toying with him - why are you being such a bitch?"

"Me?" Ino asked, fighting down her anger at the insult. She gave a sniff and remembered the arguments that Shikamaru had given her. "As it so happens, I have a jutsu that leaves me very vulnerable. Is it so wrong that I want to be friendly to Naruto, so that when we're in a fight, he'll maybe think about trying to take care of me? I think the one who's been shutting him down for so long is the _real_-"

"H...hey," Naruto protested, frowning. "Uh, we should _all_ be a team, right? I mean ... I saw what happened yesterday in the forest when you tried it. But, why weren't you trying to be nice to Shino-kun? He could have helped you out, too."

That, Ino had not been expecting. Okay ... so, Naruto remembered everything his bunshin saw. That was important to know. "W...well," she fumbled briefly, "y...you see... What happened yesterday is why I thought I should be on better terms with my teammates this time around!"

"But ... Sakura-chan is your teammate too," Naruto pressed, looking confounded.

Damn! Shikamaru's script had nothing for this! She plowed on, not wanting to give up - to have no defenses or aid at all against Kakashi. "You have to take these things one step at a time, right? I mean ... it's easier to turn a stranger into a friend than it is to turn an enemy into an ally, isn't it?"

"I ... I _guess_," he began, before Kakashi materialized from almost nowhere, pushing Naruto in the chest with one palm while the swirling leaves and chakra smoke from his appearance were still heralding his arrival.

Ino and Sakura both yelped, jumping back into defensive positions as Naruto allowed an anguished wail to escape, plunging into the river with a mighty crash. The old man's feet shifted and he nearly stumbled over his cane as he flinched away. Both girls turned to stare at Kakashi, who spun around and watched Naruto's splashing, flailing antics as the current pushed him beneath the bridge.

"Real ninja don't get distracted by romance!" Kakashi called cheerfully.

"Help!" the blond gasped between flailing grabs at the sky, borne swiftly downstream. "I can't swim!" At that, he waved franticly and slipped beneath the surface of the river.

Ino and Sakura hesitated, uncertain, and Kakashi stared at the form of Naruto as it drifted away. "Hmm," the legendary copy bastard mused thoughtfully, as Naruto suddenly stilled, bobbing in the river motionlessly. "That was well done, Naruto."

"Like a _real_ ninja?" he asked caustically, as the Naruto in the water puffed into chakra smoke, and the elderly man with a cane dropped his henge to reveal Naruto.

Whoa.

Okay - that-

_That_ was actually somewhat smooth - especially for Naruto.

"Exactly like that!" Kakashi cheered, grabbing the boy and flinging him towards the river anyway.

Screaming something incomprehensible, the boy summoned a bunshin mid-fall, trying to use it's momentum to hurl himself away, to the shore. Ino rubbed her eyes as the copy - she thought, anyway, arced upwards, and then used kawarimi to replace itself with Naruto. A lucky tumble allowed the boy to cling to a tree-branch in passing. Right up until it broke with a resounding _crack_, and Naruto fell, swearing promises of vengeance as he slammed into a larger branch, further down, then made another copy - using the kawarimi trick to again to tumble a very _short_ distance into a shrub.

"_Yes_!" Naruto exalted, pumping one fist as he staggered to a halt, mostly unharmed.

A heartbeat later, the rustling branches of the bush behind him sported an explosive tag. Another blink after that, he was launched headlong into the river by the explosion, howling in rage for the brief flight before crashing into the water with a mighty splash.

"Notice how he survived much longer than usual," Kakashi said brightly, nodding at the girls, causing both to jolt and then freeze in terror as he clapped a companionable hand on each girl's shoulder. "That's firm proof of his commitment to improve! I expect a very good show from the pair of you, as well - especially since Ino-chan has started bridging the gaps in your teamwork. That means today's training is going to be extra strenuous!"

Ino felt her stomach abruptly lurch straight through her feet, the bridge, the water, and probably Naruto's thick skull, wherever he was down there. Oh, crap - her only good ally was beneath the water! She cautiously ran away from Kakashi to the railing, trying to keep one eye on the teacher, and also see whatever was going on down there.

The usually placid flow was _boiling_, writhing furls and sprays of water surging higher, the river swelling whole _feet_ upwards as she watched, tingeing orange-

_Shit_ - what the hell was Naruto _doing_?

Whatever it was, Sakura yelped and ran, breaking past Ino in a flash. Not wanting to remain on the bridge alone with Kakashi, the blonde swiftly turned to follow. Then the river exploded, disgorging copies of Naruto by the _hundreds_, all of them flinging kunai, shuriken, throwing wire, smoke bombs, notebooks, were those _frog-shaped wallets_? What the hell-

The massive crowd of bunshin - the real one _had_ to be in there _somewhere_ surged damply around Ino and Sakura, keeping them hemmed together as they rushed out of the grounds. Kakashi actually sounded faintly _annoyed_ when he made a 'tsk' noise from above them, on a nearby rooftop. "Is that really the best you can do?" he asked, doubtfully.

"Hell, no!" half of the bunshin cried out as one, before: "_Henge_!"

And then there were _no_ Naruto bunshin there. Instead, it was an army of _Ino and Sakura_.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed slightly, and he seemed about to open his mouth to speak behind his mask before a flash of orange emerged- That must be the _real_ Naruto, Ino surmised, a little intimidated by so much _Sakura_ around her.

That was just an unhealthy amount of pink.

"It'll be no trouble helping you, Ino-chan. This guy hates me so much, he'll go _real_ easy on you and Sakura-chan," Naruto groused. "If he can figure it out!"

"Is it hate that makes me think you need to be the best ninja you can be?" Kakashi mused. "I suppose I'll have to ask Asuma-sensei to give you another lecture on the Will of Fire! A much longer one, too."

"Yeah, that pretty much proves it," Naruto grumbled. Then he suddenly puffed into chakra smoke, and all of the Sakura and Ino bunshin raised their hands, calling out, "Kawarimi!"

Ino _lurched_ much more jarringly than when Kakashi pulled that trick - and a Sakura put one arm around her back, half dragging her as she whispered, "Play along - don't get _really_ mad," before raising her voice and saying, snappily, "Sasuke is the coolest genin _ever_! It's great that he doesn't need any friends!"

"That's the dumbest thing-" Ino snapped, before cutting herself off. _Damn_, she was going to have to match Naruto in stupidity to fool Kakashi- "Yes, he's the best ever and you shouldn't have him, because you have such a huge forehead!"

"My forehead is cute and attractive!" Sakura asserted, even as dozens - possibly hundreds of other Sakura/Ino duos scattered in the direction of training ground seventeen, all of them blathering simlarly inane things.

"Don't worry," another Sakura in the crowd said in confidence to the Ino next to her, "I won't let anyone know you're the real Naruto!"

The Sakura and Ino in that pair suddenly puffed into chakra smoke - a pair of senbon sticking out of the street to explain why. "Real ninja really should be a bit more subtle than _that_ with their decoys," Kakashi scolded mildly, standing in front of an ANBU with a bear mask on another roof, his arms crossed over his chest as he surveyed the children - his posture suggested disapproval that his mask didn't show.

"Now, there are _severe_ penalties for disruptive training exercises within city limits," Kakashi warned cheerfully.

"And a real ninja would be prepared to be attacked even within the safety of their own homes," another nearby Sakura snapped.

"Shit," another Ino swore, before raising her hands. Then she suddenly cried out, "Kawarimi!"

Another annoying lurch later, they'd all shuffled around. Okay - wow. Naruto had some tactic. She was going to have a migraine, but he was a more protective partner so far than Sa- kura.

Sakura was a terrible partner in comparison, yeah. At least Naruto wasn't _all_ bad, even if he'd had to cheat to take on Sasuke.

"His senbon just vanished!" an Ino cried out in annoyance. "That means this isn't the real Kakashi - he's a bunshin!"

"Then _all_ of us are in danger!" another Ino yelped. "Break for the training ground, nonstop!" That Ino paused, shooting the Kakashi bunshin a dirty look. She then managed to deflect a senbon and blow a raspberry before being dispersed by a kunai. Ino, all of the Sakura bunshin, and all of the Ino bunshin tensed.

"Well, making more bunshin will give you away," Kakashi said cheerfully, "if you're really here! Won't _this_ be a learning experience!"

One hand rose, filled with the glittering tips of dozens of senbon.

"I don't usually bother to tell my students about myself," he added, in an aside, "but out of respect that you've decided to really take this seriously - you should know that I used to be in ANBU. So I won't be _killing_ any of you." Then he paused, his visible eye suggesting a smile before he concluded, "Of course, since I _am_ dispersing kage bunshin, you should know that I plan to make it hurt. Don't fail your teammates now!"

All of the Sakura and Ino present turn and ran like hell, charging away from a storm of senbon, some pausing to throw kunai back at the jounin or drop smoke-bombs.

A slowly building burn began in her side, and she realized that she was probably in for a _lot_ less suffering than usual, against Kakashi.

Aw, crud - this meant she owed Shikamaru!

That part totally sucked-

Another disorienting kawarimi surge, and she found herself stumbling as the bunshin that had replaced her was pierced by three senbon-

Okay, okay - no time to get distracted, even _with_ Naruto's help!

* * *

Sakura had to admit, as irritating as he usually was, Naruto's smokescreen of bunshin under henge was insanely effective - throw in the fact that he'd improved his kawarimi a _lot_... Not really _perfectly_, though. Her chakra manipulation was a hell of a lot more refined than his; she found after the third time, once she felt the initial tug of his chakra that she could start to initiate her _own_ kawarimi. His immediately seemed to accept and take her guidance, and she snapped instantly into the new location with _alarmingly_ small effort.

She'd been proud once that in a good ten minute fight she could pull off seven or eight kawarimi, if she didn't wipe herself out. Kakashi had demonstrated that she might on occasion need more than that in a _minute_. And now, Naruto surprised her with this amazing utility that let her stretch that to easily a dozen times in a minute - and though she was sure it would make her vision grow dim and her head spin, she knew if she _had_ to, she could do it a dozen more times!

Or - she could just save _all_ of her chakra and let _him_ move her. Slower, and she almost always had to check her balance afterwards. But no real effort.

Once they reached the training ground and the remaining few hundred Ino and Sakura bunshin joined them, opposed by no less than _nine_ Kakashi bunshin.

So, _this_ training session was still liable to especially suck.

She _really_ wanted to be able to be annoyed with him, but Ino was making her look bitchy, and then he'd helped watch over her _anyway_.

So, fine - he was a decent teammate when he wasn't whining about Sasuke. She managed to use his cover to face Kakashi, deflecting senbon frequently and firing the occasional calculated shot back.

Oh, some day she'd have explosive tags and give _him_ a surprise - oh yes she would!

W...where had that thought- Never mind.

Anyway, she was a dutiful kunoichi, so she practiced her precision shots; Naruto was surprisingly reliable with bunshin willing to swap her out at any given moment. Right up until it was nearly time for lunch, and Kakashi locked the _real_ Naruto up by striking no less than _fourteen_ specific points along his joints - and across his back.

He tumbled face-down, and would have slammed into the earth if a nearby bunshin - disguised as her hadn't snapped, "You moron! You got hit- So _useless_!" and then dived, catching him before he fell.

A nearby Ino immediately used Kawarimi to replace her - and then another shuffled Sakura herself away. She found herself dragged deep inside a hedge, where an anxious Ino crouched over the completely paralyzed boy, looking at her worriedly. "D...do you know how to fix this?" the maybe-Ino asked.

"Yeah," Sakura said, frowning. She'd read about it, anyway. Now, which series of points did Kakashi _hit_ anyway? There were different sets, and some needed the needles to be removed _very carefully_.

"Are you the real Ino?" Sakura asked in a very quiet whisper, not looking up.

"According to the book I read, that's real crummy asset management," the bunshin replied, shaking her head-

_Damn_ but his henge had gotten good! That was _alarming_! She was seriously going to have to start pushing herself - he was carrying the entire battle against Kakashi by himself!

Well, not anymore. "Clean gauze from the first aid-kit," she ordered, still keeping her voice as low as possible, handing her pack to the bunshin. "Double-up half and stuff it into his mouth so he can bite down on it - then give me the other half in small bits."

Then, because from everything she knew it would do the least damage if she messed it up, she started at his arms, annoyed that his clothing obscured _precisely_ where he'd been pierced. Grasping the senbon, she gently drew the needles out, frowning with the worrisome realization - these hadn't vanished on their own.

The real Kakashi probably _knew_ which Naruto was the real one! Somehow! Why else wouldn't he just make more kage-bunshin and use their dispersing weapons?

Well, okay, he _could_ be some kind of sadist that she'd repay in _spades_ some unexpected moment with explosive tags of her own-

Ahem.

But he knew what he was doing, beyond a doubt. No point risking their cover until the senbon were withdrawn from the boy, though.

He grunted as his teeth clamped down on the gauze. If Kakashi _didn't_ know where they were, then the precaution were probably overkill. But being blown up and warned that _real_ ninja would have played it safe did _not_ appeal.

So he stayed as quiet as possible as she dabbed at the injuries - not accomplishing much through his clothes. Still, she did manage to remove all of the pins, and he sat up gratefully with a sigh of relief, stretching his limbs out without disturbing any of the surrounding branches. She tried to pull his coat back a bit to look at his injuries - and he didn't resist, just trying to give her a goofy smile, but she couldn't spot any wounds, other than what she thought were smaller scratches, or maybe insect bites.

Eh, fine - Naruto was probably okay. Now, time to move.

He seemed to have the same idea, making a familiar hand seal, creating another group of hundreds of bunshin outside of the bush, and then fished a whistle from his pocket, blowing it long and loud. She felt herself grabbed by another of Naruto's kawarimi - she was starting to recognize his chakra - and assisted it, snapping far away from him over a series of hops, vanishing in the orange swarm. Very shortly they divided into Ino and Sakura look-alikes, charging in all directions as the Ino near her wobbled wildly, groaning.

Sakura grabbed her as the blonde stumbled. Wait - was this the real Ino? From what Naruto said, that sounded unlikely. But he'd kept ... well ... her nearby...

Then again, tactically - if she were considered a medic, that might make sense. "What's going on?" she asked in a whisper.

"B...bunshin reporting in," she groaned, shaking her head.

So, actually Naruto then, she realized, moving to support the wobbling girl. Another Ino and Sakura dashed in, but paused, seeing her already helping the ... Naruto in henge. Not Ino. _Man_ that was a good henge.

"Boss?" they whispered in tandem.

"Keep watch," she- He, Sakura reminded herself. He ordered the bunshin and they nodded dutifully before vanishing.

Damn... What kinds of books had _he_ been reading? She'd need to catch up, evidently. After a few minutes of quiet breathing, he nodded, seeming satisfied with what he'd learned. "I need to do this again," he explained. "The bunshin that are currently out don't know what I just figured out."

Sakura nodded understanding as Naruto made the same hand seal. This time, the crowd was all Ino, until half of them turned into copies of herself.

Another flickering series of kawarimi - and suddenly, he'd gotten a lot less clumsy at that - they were behind another shrub, far away. Explosions began to rock the distant forest, evidently Kakashi growing irritated with Naruto's tactic. The whistle blew again.

Another surging trip through the forest, and it was starting to become unreasonable how much Naruto was doing. "You should have your bunshin echo the whistle blow next time," she noted to the next Ino she found herself next to, not knowing if she was talking to him - or a copy. It would reach him eventually, she was pretty sure. Unless it was the real Ino?

On a whim she reached out and groped the other Ino's chest - mostly because she was annoyed with the quality of-

Oh, oh _shit_. That was really Ino!

She pulled her hand back as though burned, feeling her face heat up as she blushed. Oh, _fuck_. She'd _never_ live this down!

"S...Sakura-chan," Ino said, blinking, looking confused. "W...what was that for?"

"I... I thought you were Naruto in henge!" she hissed.

Ino blinked several times. "I ... am," she answered, confused - releasing the henge and turning back into Naruto - this one with a flat chest, she realized, unable to stop herself from probing.

She really had to stop doing that.

Sakura felt her mouth drop open. "Not possible," she refused, shaking her head. "Henge is... You don't..." Okay, never mind that it shouldn't be possible, come to think of it. Naruto had sent literal _armies_ of decoys out just to distract Kakashi. Why _not_ have him use some sort of more ... substantial version of henge? She'd read of other ninja on occasion becoming so good at techniques.

Mostly ... well ... legendary ninja. And frequently for strangely permanent-

She wasn't sure she wanted to give Naruto _that_ much credit, but ... why the hell not? Come to think of it, Naruto's inner pervert, and his 'research' into the 'sexy' technique... He might have some sort of weird kekkai genkai he hadn't figured out, or just had some weird knack. Whatever - that could be a huge asset in infiltration, if he could be a bit more subtle and clever about it.

No way he was remotely a legendary ninja, though.

"That's a pretty rare level of henge," she finally decided, while he waited anxiously. "You must have seriously practiced - when did you find the time?"

"I remember what every bunshin does," he said simply. "I'm getting like ... a few minutes of practice every second or so, thanks to Bastard-sensei."

"Holy crap," she allowed. That was one hell of a jutsu! She could see why it was on a forbidden scroll.

Naruto offered a proud smile before raising his hands and shifting back to Ino in a cloud of chakra smoke. "Pretty cool, huh?" Naruto asked confidently.

Oh, hell yeah. "If you even _think_ of turning into me and trying to do something naughty with my body, I will end you," she promised him, nodding agreement.

A simultaneously interested - and then horrified expression flashed over 'Ino's' face.

"What's Ino doing right now?" she wondered, changing the subject.

Naruto frowned. "Not sure," he confessed. "Whatever bunshin are with her haven't dispersed."

Alright - enough being surprised by Naruto's ability. "Okay, you're probably just as bad at wasting chakra with your bunshin as you are with your kawarimi, aren't you?" she asked.

Naruto blinked, frowning. "Yeah," he allowed, shrugging. "I _guess_. I mean, I got plenty of chakra, right?"

"You could still be a lot better at it - I could feel it when we were doing kawarimi together."

"Yeah," Naruto admitted, nodding. "I started to notice that, too. It got annoying, so I started doing it your way - which, I guess is a bit easier..."

That's the point," she said patiently. "Don't just keep _doing_ it - get _better_ at it, right?" And, naturally ... if she could find a hundred mistakes in what he did - well, she'd never have to make those mistakes. And if he had so many bunshin he could reveal all the ways to do something wrong, she'd figure the right way out in his wake - no problem.

Also, there was no way in _hell_ she was going to let that blonde bimbo win!

She was ahead of Ino as it was - the real Naruto was hanging out with her, despite the fact that he knew it was a risk.

So she could suck on that! Haha-

Anyway.

"So," she said patiently, "let's talk about how your bunshin work, huh? I bet you haven't really thought about how they talk to each other, have you?"

"No," he admitted.

"This really explains why they ended up so predictable," she mused, shaking her head. "Well, we'll figure that out," she decided, already forming plans - hah, what was stupid Ino-pig going to offer? Being an air-headed fainting pretty-girl? She'd show _her_!

"So, let's look back to the training exercise yesterday," she began, already thinking of how easy the guards had been to pass. "Now, how did you have them set to talk to one-another? What sort of system did you use?"

Naruto looked embarrassed. "I kind of... Well, I _read_ those books, but some of it I kind of... You know, it's hard to soak up!"

She fought down a surge of relief, managing to keep her smile unchanging. Good - Naruto hadn't become _ridiculously_ different since ... well... Okay, Iruka dying - that should have a strong effect.

And she'd said something bad about Naruto then - ugh, hopefully being himself, he'd forget. Hey, he'd asked her out already! So, that shouldn't be any kind of problem - excellent. Good - perfect, even. She just needed to get him to stop pestering her for dates, and it could be workable!

With Naruto's help, she'd be a _way_ better kunoichi than Ino!

* * *

Kurenai was a very quiet, soothing teacher. Hinata was guiltily glad she'd been stuck at home, and gotten a chance to rest adequately. Otherwise, she was _certain_ she would have fallen asleep during the teacher's lessons ... she wouldn't _want_ to, but... Well...

Sasuke and Kiba both dutifully did the leaf exercise along with her for a few minutes, and then it was time to learn how to walk up trees. The kind, red-eyed teacher scanned across the group and explained the premise of the exercise, and how often they would be able to benefit from it as ninja. After that, she showed them how it was done, and told them to practice.

Hinata had immediately marched to the top of her tree. Sasuke and Kiba stared at her from the ground in consternation, Akamaru releasing a confused whimper from where he was practicing on the leaf exercise by his partner's feet.

She felt bad immediately. "D...did I do something wrong?" she asked fretfully.

"I...it's," Kurenai began, before trailing off uncertainly. "Ah ... you know, it's quite impressive - it's fairly rare for someone your age to know how to walk on trees already!"

Hinata had no idea what to make of that. It was _unusual_ to learn it? But ... when she was seven, she'd _had_ to! Her father had been disappointed in her, too - it had taken nearly five days of constant practice to learn that - followed immediately by a week of water walking practice.

"O...oh," she said, having no other idea of what to do with her time.

Sasuke snorted and ran at the tree, intending to replicate the feat. He made it up three steps or so - and then flipped over backwards, landing upright and scowling. Shaking his head, he ran again, making a fourth step - then his foot slipped. He kicked off with his other foot and landed upright again, and Kiba pumped one fist, nodding in determination.

"Right!" he barked, nodding with dogged determination - and immediately trying to follow suit. He found a more sloped trunk, one he could easily lope up three steps before it began to straighten, and he'd need to use his chakra. He made it up only two steps further than that, but still managed to flip to safety, just like Sasuke.

"Very good!" Kurenai encouraged, applauding the boys' enthusiasm. "Hinata, why don't you come down here?" the teacher suggested. "Since you already know this exercise very well ... why don't we work on some kunoichi training?"

"Oh ... alright," she agreed. Hopefully not more dreadful flower-arranging. She'd already been trained in that by her family - and then a much clumsier version in the academy. She'd have to do the polite thing and learn the new form anyway, she supposed.

She allowed some of her chakra control to slip, causing her sandals to slide down the trunk of the tree at a reasonable clip, twisting when required to avoid branches - both of the boys broke off their practice to stare, Sasuke's brows furrowing in annoyance before he snorted and redoubled his efforts, and Kiba just watching, his eyebrows raising.

"Okay, this exercise just got a hell of a lot more interesting," he panted, recovering his breath from his last attempt and then shucking his jacket with an eager grin.

Hinata wished both of them luck, which Kiba accepted with a determinedly enthusiastic growl, and Sasuke with a neutral grunt.

Shortly, they were out of casual earshot, and Kurenai turned to her with a smile. "So, tell me," she said, shaking her head. "Why were you so worn out at practice yesterday? That seemed unlike you."

"Ah ... w...well," she hesitated, uncomfortable. "I ... pushed myself too hard training with Naruto-kun," she offered. "A...and after that, my father insisted to see me show ... well, some proof that I was in good hands."

Kurenai blinked, her red eyes flashing for a moment. "Oh?" she mused. "Could you explain that a little more?"

"W...we sparred, and at the end, he said that ... um ... h...he said that I'd improved enough, but I should ... not be so weak and ... you know..." She trailed off - it was already obvious she exhausted herself.

"I...is that all?" Kurenai asked, looking strangely bothered.

She thought for a moment and admitted, "I haven't... My father insists on spending more time sparring with me, now, since I need to improve so badly - so I haven't been able to meet Naruto in the morning and have breakfast with him lately."

Kurenai's look of confusion deepened. "L...let's explore that a little more too?" she asked, her smile looking strangely forced.

Hinata heaved a tiny sigh - why was this important? It was just a normal thing between friends - Naruto had agreed to that himself! She explained what had been going on:

"Naruto-kun has ... well, money is ... without family... I meet him in the m...mornings before practice and we have breakfast t...together! T...then we talk about..." She shrugged, realizing that suddenly - she didn't really _know_ how well Kurenai liked Naruto. Better not to give anything important away. "Training, and what we're l...learning," she offered.

Oh ... oh, dear - she'd probably given her fib away with that stutter. She really needed to practice this!

"That sounds ... alright," Kurenai allowed uncertainly. Then she shook her head. "Is Naruto's financial situation that bad? I hadn't heard anything about this!"

"W...well, he's getting by," she managed. "S...so, we go and shop t...together to save money." Then she shook her head. "B...but I guess I won't be able to do it every day, since I have to practice at home more... I r...really have a long way to go to be a good kunoichi."

Kurenai looked for a moment as though a kage bunshin had dispersed, giving her a sudden and fiercely unpleasant memory. "Ah ... Hinata-chan - you're already an amazing kunoichi!" she said, shaking her head to dismiss the unwanted thought. "You- How can you think that you're a poor kunoichi, if Sasuke and Kiba haven't learned the tree climbing exercise yet, while you have?"

"Okay," she agreed. "T...that's a lot like what Naruto-kun said!" Maybe that meant it was worth listening to, as well?

Kurenai worked her jaw for a moment, then smiled. "Yes- Good!"

"U...um ... so, what's ... the kunoichi training?" she wondered.

"Ah - do you know how to walk on water?"

She nodded wordlessly.

Kurenai didn't seem very surprised this time. "Okay. Well! In that case ... you must promise me that you won't show this to anyone else yet - they need to pace themselves, after all! So, are you familiar with shunshin?"

She nodded her head. "I know what it does," she explains. "B...but I can't ... do it..."

Kurenai nodded, glancing at the boys. "Okay," she said, concentrating for a moment. She made some hand-seals and turned towards the boys, then there was a flash and-

Disoriented, she brought a hand to her head; she was standing beneath a different tree, near a lake. Kurenai was with her, and when she activated her kekkai genkai, she realized they weren't far away from the boys. She also noted the genjutsu making it look like they were still there (looking especially transparent to a byakugan eye), while Kurenai nodded in satisfaction.

"Now, you will promise, right? No one else is ready for this yet - not until they master bunshin, henge, and kawarimi!"

"Okay," Hinata agreed. She would absolutely let no one know what she was learning - except Naruto. He'd been _so_ excited at the prospect of learning shunshin, how could she _not_? "I swear, Kurenai-sensei!" No one but Naruto-kun would hear about this from her!

Kurenai looked satisfied. "Remember," she warned, "I'm only teaching you this because you're such a capable kunoichi!"

Hinata felt her face warm. "R...really?" she asked, smiling uncertainly.

"Absolutely," the red-eyed woman confirmed. "Now, activate your kekkai genkai and watch me closely, okay?"

Hinata nodded, raising her hands in the familiar seal and activating the full force of her family's power. Kurenai's chakra and tenketsu sprang into sharp focus, and her field of vision stretched, expanding around her in what was almost a complete sphere. She naturally shifted her orientation around enough to compensate for that blind-spot - any remotely worthwhile Hyuuga would.

She wondered idly if that made other people think that Hyuuga were fidgetey.

That thought was dismissed as she watched the flows of energy - the very dimly observable traces of chakra swirling through Kurenai's significantly brighter hara, shaped through her hand-seal, brought down low near the source of chakra and then released. Okay, she thought, trying to analyze what she'd seen. Kurenai had sent out a very, _very_ fast probe of some sort of chakra to a point- No, she was going to need to see that again.

"I...I'm sorry, Sensei!" she blurted immediately, remembering to actually politely turn her face to the woman. "I didn't ... I didn't get it!"

"But- Hinata-chan," Kurenai sighed from only a few paces away. "I haven't even really shown you the hand-seal! I just wanted you to see the jutsu in motion once before we began!"

"I..." Hinata swallowed, ducking her head. "O...oh..."

"Here; watch, it's just the ram seal," Kurenai said warmly, drawing closer and offering her a bright smile. "See?" She shaped the sign before her, giving Hinata plenty of time to absorb it, and the flow of chakra through Kurenai. "After you learn that simple application, we'll work on practicing it until you can do it one handed - and from there, if you like, you can keep working at it until you can do it without any seal at all!

"In fact, there was once a shinobi of Konoha who was so good at it they called him 'Shunshin no Shisui'! His skill at using this jutsu offensively was nearly unparalleled." She paused, suggesting she could say more about him, but then shook her head. Hinata suspected that whatever she offered next was a slight divergence. "He was so skilled, he didn't need to make any movements at all - it seemed almost as though he could teleport at will! You may not reach his legendary skill, but as you might imagine - this is a very useful tool for any ninja's arsenal, isn't it?"

Hinata nodded eagerly. She would _absolutely_ learn this jutsu! Naruto would be _so_ pleased! "Yes, Sensei!" she cried cheerfully. "Please, teach me!"

* * *

Shino had been somewhat impressed with Sasuke's performance in the training exercise that Naruto and Shikamaru had conducted together - insofar as combat effectiveness, at least. All the same, as Naruto had been quick to exploit - the Uchiha boy had gotten overconfident. He'd learned early on that Naruto's bunshin could be dispersed by inflicting minimal damage, so he could just use the weakest, widest possible wave of fire. That was typically pretty effective, too.

The bug-user was growing increasingly wary of him, though. Sasuke would be responsible in front of the teachers - and he was unlikely to do anything to jeopardize the group's success. Still, Naruto was Shino's friend - like Shikamaru. Naruto was still leaving himself vulnerable in some ways, and so Shino intended to do his best to watch over the blond boy's weak spots.

It would be good practice for ANBU later, he'd already decided. It wasn't too hard to maintain kikaichu on him. They only lasted a few hours, but he found he could send a few dozen at once. They could nest in his coat, and were so small that Naruto missed them. In the meantime ... even though it hadn't really been _discussed_ he'd finally gotten his insects to the point they could leave improved pheromone messages that would persist for later retrieval.

There was the possibility of someone with unusually sharp perception noticing them ... Kiba seemed a possible candidate, and _perhaps_ Hinata. Shino was significantly more aware of Naruto's limitations and potential than Hinata's. So, this had prompted the self-imposed mission to learn more about the girl; a background check, as it was.

Ostensibly, they should have been investigating Naruto's kekkai genkai - if that's what it was. The book Sakura mentioned had been in the library index, but much to the librarian's frustration, it was nowhere to be found. The attendant then simply shrugged and declared it a loss, suggesting that a new one would be ordered in a few months - but maybe he could find one in town.

He was becoming reasonably certain that there were none in town after checking five shops.

They'd somewhat strained Hinata's loyalty anyway, so he tried to monitor her, learn more about her and see if she would tell Naruto what Shikamaru and Shino had suggested. That would probably actually be fine - but it would reveal more about Hinata's nature.

She really did seem trustworthy so far though, more than just _fond_ of Naruto, as he'd discovered.

He'd _just_ gotten to the point where he could send small groups of kikaichu to actually survive and breed independently. For a few days at most, before reporting back. Much longer and they'd die off. A handful of generations at best, but potentially priceless for gathering information. He would preserve the most successful, being sure to especially encourage any that showed promise of bringing back more details than just generalities to breed superior partner insects.

That would be a truly precious find. He was confident that some day soon, as long as he kept searching for those positive traits ... he'd find them. Others in his clan had frequently developed such kikaichu.

So, the plan had been to utilize his partner insects to do Naruto a small favor, and also cultivate new attributes and strengths at the same time. To even out the balance, he'd intended to employ the same process he did with his own coat; he'd long ago had his kikaichu integrate many of the features of moths, silkworms, and various spiders. As a result, they could eat the torn, ruined cloth, and then weave back new replacement thread, almost seamlessly.

It certainly helped against the wear Kakashi put on Shino's clothing, anyway.

That was standard Aburame training, though; all of his clothes were kikaichu-made, and were even before he could make his own. It wasn't by coincidence that Aburame who retired from the idea of becoming shinobi after ... synchronizing with their partners frequently became tailors. His father, in point of fact, wore the beads of mastery at the craft, hanging from his own dark glasses. Shino wasn't that good himself, but he thought he could at least do a _fair_ job.

He felt that would be a reasonable compromise. It wasn't that he wanted to spy on Naruto, as much as he felt it would be advantageous to understand things about his circumstances that he ... really ... might not notice on his own. Like the fact that his coat was getting mended.

And he couldn't imagine that Shikamaru would mind ample warning if Naruto seemed to be lured into some sort of ambush. That thought in mind, while he was ... 'bugging', he supposed, the other members of his current team - and Asuma, who seemed just as unaware, he spent special focus on his experimental new temporarily independent kikaichu. He wouldn't be sending them anywhere until he met with Naruto again, so that gave him time to prepare - since 'meditation' was almost completely pointless.

No offense to Asuma.

Information was power, after all. But mostly, he wanted them to try and preserve the orange. Like some bold insects, Naruto wore a bright color - then again, considering his hair and relatively distinctive eyes, he had more than _one_ bright color. Also, like most of those insects, Naruto would badly poison any predator that tried to eat him.

Considering that he was working on his henge, he could also probably make _real_ stealth an option at almost a moment's notice, but Shino wasn't certain Naruto would ever really be that kind of ninja.

So, for the time being ... orange it was.

* * *

Anko pursed her lips, considering the end-of-day reports her bunshin were sending in. One of them - under henge as Naruto - returned to her apartment roof as she sat there, cross-legged, handing over a handful of dango on skewers before sticking one hand out, demanding real money. Well ... yeah, Kakashi would probably get all ticked off if she let that fall onto Naruto.

Her bunshin realized that, too, so swiped some ryo from her hand while she was counting it, then ran off, cackling like the blond boy on a pranking spree.

Good enough, she supposed.

A heartbeat later, she almost choked on her dango when an ANBU arrived via shunshin, staring down at her with a bear-mask. Oh - the same one ... that had been with Kakashi earlier. Huh.

"Uh," she said, somewhat belatedly. "Dango, ANBU-san?" She held out a skewer.

The ANBU may have blinked behind the mask. "Hmm," he mused, tonelessly. He did, after a moment, take a skewer with an entirely unreadable nod. Then he produced a scroll from a pouch that was far too small to contain it, remarking with a jutsu-veiled voice, "It only seems right in the balance."

She accepted the scroll dutifully. What, some summons from the Hokage?

The bear masked stranger vanished as abruptly as he arrived, and Anko shrugged, leisurely opening the scroll. Annoying - one of those summoning thingamajigs.

Some stored item, but probably not a heavy one. She rolled it back up and re-organized her remaining food, scarfing one whole skewer's worth - no need to be ladylike without anyone watching - before vaulting back to the door of her apartment and stepping inside. Once there she tossed the scroll on the table and threw herself onto the couch, leaning forward and activating the seal with a pulse of chakra. A small stack of papers - about six of them - popped out of the array.

She frowned picking them up and skimming through them.

Her eyes widened as she saw - spelled out with ANBU clarity - a summary of the life of Kakashi's father.

Oh, _shit_, she remembered that from before... Well, damn. That was somewhat alarming. Why the hell had some random ANBU decided she should have...

"'In the balance'?" she asked herself aloud, her voice slipping towards an indignant screech. Oh, that unforgivable _asshole_ - he'd yanked her ANBU file! The ANBU in question had then-

Oh, that one-eyed bastard was going to _pay_! She was going to put some venomous serpents down _his_ pants the next time she managed to get him into her bed!

She had just started to work herself up into a good, really destructively frothing rage, when she heard a knock on the door of her apartment. Oh, _yes_, Kakashi! Time for justice!

The papers were stowed with minimal difficulty in her miniskirt. There was a reason she'd chosen that particular length and a hidden sleeve that could hold a few sheets of densely recorded information for infiltration missions. She spent a heartbeat trying to get herself ready - to look her most vapid and hungry.

That- That- Oh, he was going to _suffer_ for that! The jerk couldn't even _ask_ her?!

"Hey, hotness," she said brightly, wrenching open the door and grinning, letting her jacket flare wide for-

Kurenai.

_Damn it_!

The red eyed woman blinked, looking completely unimpressed. "Is this a bad time?" she drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"I- No," Anko snarled. "I'm just- It's-"

Immediately Kurenai raised her other eyebrow. "Alright," she said, shaking her head slightly, "why don't we discuss this over some tea?"

"And what if I don't want to do this frilly _feelings_ bullshit?" Anko grumbled.

Kurenai showed a warm smile. "Would you like a few minutes of narakumi?" she asked sweetly. "Or perhaps _significantly_ longer, before we can get to the important part?"

"Oh, you love seeing me when I'm down," Anko snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"With your attitude, yes, I do," the red-eyed woman said, somewhat smugly. "All the same - I _will_ help you; it would be pathetic for our genin to band together and overcome their issues, and then not do the same. Why not have a nice little heart-to-heart and talk things out, productively, like good girls? The kind that men dismiss, and so are easier to surprise?"

Anko closed her mouth so abruptly that her teeth clicked.

Huh.

Even the Chibikage would say to agree with that.

Once she was sure she wouldn't swear, she hissed, "I love tea!"

Kurenai's grin grew exceptionally pleased. "There; we have something in common already! We can both be extremely bitchy and hide it behind a polite mask!"

Anko was so surprised she snorted in laughter at that, then scowling that her defenses were breached. "I don't want Kakashi or anyone else to walk in while I vent," she grumbled. "If that's what you're going to le- make me do."

"Kakashi specifically?" the red-eyed woman asked, stepping into Anko's apartment and closing the door, heading to the kitchenette. Shortly, she'd started a kettle, and then dumped chakra into some extensive genjutsu that she promised would shroud even _sound_.

That was actually pretty smooth, and Anko had to admit, the only way she'd let herself be coerced into spilling what had pissed her off. Plus, as Kurenai had demonstrated, she could bare her fangs when she had to. That was respectable. She wasn't _all_ coddling nicey-niceness.

"This side of you is a bit more of a turn-on," she told Kurenai, studying her for a reaction as the other kunoichi was pouring tea.

She didn't react beyond an amused snort, except to comment, "Oh, you tell everyone who threatens you that."

"T...that's ... only mostly true," Anko protested half-heartedly, before growling, reaching back into her miniskirt.

Kurenai began to look alarmed, and for a moment, the special jounin was strongly tempted to... But no, scaring Kurenai might just piss her off. And that would detract from just how much feminine outrage she was pretty confident she could scare up against Kakashi.

"An ANBU with a bear mask dropped this off," she explained, handing the papers she'd only halfway read through to Kurenai. Hissing, she added, in an ominous, angry voice, "He said this was 'in the balance' - implying that Kakashi- Well!" She huffed at that, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kurenai's eyebrows rose, and she skimmed the papers before her. "Kakashi's father," she noted, skimming through the first half. "And ... ah - oh, this is the mission where... His eye..."

Wait, _what_? _That_ was in there? Oh, _this_ was juicy!

She instantly slipped to Kurenai's side, reading along with her. Maybe she was going to get some sweet revenge after all! Only... That was one hell of a report; the yondaime himself was there that night ... and then Kakashi had broken his father's blade the same evening?

This was going to take a detailed re-reading later.

Still... Before she spilled anything to the jounin, she needed to figure out what to hand out, and what to hold back. No way in hell she wasn't going to dig, thinking Anko was more vulnerable pissed off.

"Anyway," she said, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to keep going as she had - to show Kurenai a woman who was hurt, someone she could probably sympathize with.

Seriously - the woman had issues, projecting onto Hinata like that. The Hyuuga girl was damn near thriving in her situation, all things considered.

"He must have read my file," she huffed, wincing internally at the realization she couldn't prove that.

"ANBU isn't in the habit of handing things out like- Oh... His own teammate..."

"Yeah? Well- _Ooh_! Well, that explains some of his attitude," Anko agreed, distracted by the text.

"So, tell me," Kurenai said in a friendly voice, lowering the paper at the end of the summary and turning to face the special jounin. "What are you concerned about that he'd be finding in your file? You wouldn't be worked up if it weren't something..."

_Damn_. She was right, though... "Alright," she allowed, sighing. "You could probably figure this out yourself if you dug in the right places." Sure, whatever - build up some sympathy, then wriggle out of that part of the explanation - leave it behind like an old skin and maneuver the conversation back to Kakashi. "It's not really even a C rank secret."

Sure, give a kid like Naruto the benefit of an S rank secret - which Anko _still_ wasn't privy to, beyond Asuma mentioning in passing that it _existed_, and that was the end of her explanation on his seal. She privately wished the Chibikage and his minions a lot of luck researching Naruto's kekkai genkai; there really _were_ a lot of unanswered questions about his chakra levels.

Plus, if Kurenai hadn't bothered asking around, well, she could _really_ surprise the red-eyed woman.

Or ... she'd ... use some brilliant genjutsu, like her reputation said she might. Hell, Anko could be in the middle of that right at the moment.

Ugh - hopefully the red eyed woman was more warm-hearted than _that_.

Fine; playing up this angle wasn't so bad.

Heaving a sigh, she explained, "So ... when I was younger, I actually trained under a legendary ninja. H...he was my sensei, and I was ... his favorite student. Or so I thought." She shrugged her shoulders, incidentally letting her heavy coat fall to the floor - the collar would cover her neck, after all. She turned her back to Kurenai and raised one hand, indicating the cursed seal on the back of her neck.

"This is Orochimaru's kiss," she said by way of explanation. After a momentary pause, she added, "I had just turned thirteen." The first day she'd ever had her... Well, anyway; there was a good possibility that was one of the factors that had allowed her to survive the damning procedure, stepping through a sudden, unexpected door from child to woman.

She was the only survivor of that attempt, as it so happened.

She turned back, shrugging again as one foot snagged the edge of her coat and kicked it up, into her hands reach before pulling it on. "The jerk could have _asked_," she growled, uncomfortable to realize she wasn't sure if she was grousing about the monstrous teacher she had vowed to one day kill ... or the man that had found that out behind her back.

"Well," Kurenai said after a moment, her face surprisingly unreadable, "you said this information wasn't precisely _secret_. Being honest ... neither is most of the information _here_. Kakashi doesn't quite hide the fact that he's the 'legendary copy ninja', you know. Any enemy he'd take seriously would already know, and he's aware. Still, some of these specifics... So, showing him that you're pissed off about this is really going to give away the upper hand."

Anko's mouth dropped open, slightly stunned that Kurenai's analysis was already oriented to subtle manipulation. Oh, _damn_. She was one of those sweet cuddly types that would get into place and wrap her coils around- What had Anko gotten herself into?

Kurenai's smile widened fractionally, as though seeing Anko's realization written in her eyes. "Hmm," she mused, crossing her arms over her chest. "Anko, let me tell you something honestly; I'm troubled by the fact that there aren't more strong female ninja. Tsunade is one example, but look where she went - retired out sight. I hear she doesn't even wear a Konoha headband.

"Is that the best example we can have for the children? A female ninja that gives up and evidently turns to drinking at the first sign of trouble?" Kurenai asked, shaking her head softly. "And, being honest, since I don't know her, it's possible that her reasons for doing that are related to _your_ past. We may actually have a common enemy in that thanks to him, what should have been two powerful kunoichi instead spend a lot of time acting silly instead of really applying themselves.

"But then ... as a master of _deception_, it isn't like I don't get that you can accomplish much more by being careful about the exterior you show. It is to much to hope that some day, one of the kunoichi we teach steps into the role of legendary ninja?" Then her eyes narrowed. "And at that ... what have you been hiding from us?"

If it weren't for the fact that it would actually require a jutsu - or a somewhat painful stretch - Anko would have strongly considered dislocating her jaw to dangle even lower in surprise. "W...what ... do you think I've been hiding?" she asked, unable to keep the faintest tone of anxiety from her voice.

The other woman detected it without pause, her eyes narrowing.

Okay - time for a frantic bait-and-switch:

In a panic, she blurted out, "I saw Naruto and Sasuke pick a fight on their day off - all of the other genin watched!"

Kurenai's eyebrows rose again.

"Naruto won - he was surprisingly clever about it," she babbled, letting herself sink to the level of awareness she used for infiltration, when she had to try and explain or pass herself off. "I didn't think... W...well, he didn't even _hurt_ Sasuke; see, he jumped into Sasuke's fireball - toughed out the burn, then created bunshin _outside_ of the damaging area, right? And, and then he held Sasuke at kunai-point and made him surrender. Even Sasuke admitted that he lost fairly!"

After her Chibikage had pointed it out to everyone, anyway.

Kurenai's reaction was a mystery, lost within-

Oh, _shit_. Was this whole thing, even the ANBU paperwork, some nightmarish genjutsu effect from Kurenai? She discretely ran one hand through her hair, giving herself a shallow stab in one palm with her hairpin. The treatment she gave it stung, but wasn't _really_ a poison, so shortly her hand burned with pain, and would for an hour or so.

Nothing about her surroundings changed when she tried to worm out of any illusion, but she wasn't about to give Kurenai the satisfaction of dropping kai right in front of her. Hell, if she were that desperate, she might as well just break a finger.

"I see," the red eyed woman said after a moment, thoughtfully. "I shouldn't be surprised you'd cover that up..."

"I thought we were going to tear apart Kakashi," Anko mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why on earth would you let him off that easily?" Kurenai wondered, looking mildly puzzled.

Anko blinked again, suddenly regretting how much her hand stung as she dropped it back to her side. "What?"

"Mmm," Kurenai returned, shaking her head as though to dismiss some distraction. "I think you would do best to hold it silently over his head for a time. Never mind for the moment," she said. "Just keep yourself in the mindset of infiltration; we can talk about this after we discuss our students."

The special jounin gave a nod at that without hesitation. She was pretending to be cowed by the older woman, was all. She wasn't _really_ terrified.

Just pretending.

Just like she was with Kakashi...

* * *

Seated in what he was rapidly defining as his favorite place in the apartment - as much as one _could_ like the heart of such a woman's lair - Asuma allowed himself to enter fire meditation. His thoughts all were stacked neatly, then burned away, leaving his mind an empty, clear void. He descended through the layers of his psyche, delving for the very recent, fresh memories of that day.

From there, he studied his surroundings. There was Kakashi, leaning against a wall and seemingly indifferent. There, both women sharing the couch in Anko's apartment. Asuma didn't know why Anko had volunteered her own living space for the meeting area, but at least the front room was civilized. No clutter on the floor, no decorations on ... well ... any surface.

It was conducive towards meditation, or some _other_ kind of strict focus.

Kakashi quickly seemed to grow bored, pulling a book from his pocket.

"Gotten to chapter sixteen yet?" Anko asked, almost immediately.

"Truly," Kakashi answered without hesitation, "your analysis of this chapter was correct; I am re-reading it for the third time to absorb all of the ... subtle nuance, the deep ... insight. Amazing, moving stuff. Quite powerful."

Asuma glanced at the 'Adults Only!' warning on the back, and quickly dismissed the remark as rare sarcasm from the white-haired jounin.

"Uh," Anko answered, frowning slightly.

"Anyway," Asuma interrupted, shaking his head slightly, observing from within the clarity of fire; burning away the impure details and leaving a refined awareness behind.

"For my students today; Shino is using my lessons as a chance to pretend he is paying attention, while I believe his focus is going to his own, different inner workings. In the same way that Kiba's awareness is partially entangled with his partner's, so is Shino's.

"I believe the time still benefits him, though. Shikamaru seems to be willing to put forth the effort and Choji is more interested in mental exercise than physical."

"That sounds promising," Kurenai remarked, nodding. "Now; before we get to either Naruto or Sasuke, Anko has something to share with us," Kurenai noted, glancing at the younger woman expectantly.

The special jounin scowled, and then related the story of a fight between the two genin, while no other teachers had been around.

An obvious risk of them getting together to train on their own, Asuma thought, before that idea flicked into the flames as well. "Knowing that," Asuma said slowly, "as much as we should avoid making things too easy for our students, I think Sasuke might do better without being in a team with Naruto for a brief while."

"As easy as that will be to pull off while keeping Ino and Sakura together," Kakashi put in, closing his book and pocketing it in a pouch. "My students for today were ... quite impressive, actually." From there, he related a story about Naruto's utilization of bunshin, and his increasing deviance at applying them. To say nothing of his henge being _very_ hard to spot.

Kakashi finally concluded, "And he's applying himself to improving kawarimi, as I'd hoped the light combat exercises would show them. Since Naruto has trouble pacing himself, and was liable to wear himself out - I broke combat exercise in favor of debate for the post-lunch segment."

Anko gave a grudgingly approving nod at that. "Almost no enemy is going to be so poor at kawarimi they can't resist, or produce their own first," she warned.

"Hmm, Naruto's bunshin seem to have an attitude of absolute personal expandability, except when they're trying to play the role of someone else," Kakashi countered. "He might _just_ pull it off - and in the meantime, the defensive utility...

"I wouldn't admit this to _him_, but I honestly lost both Ino _and_ Sakura in all of Naruto's bunshin - by the time I found Sakura, she was administering treatment for some senbon I'd slowed Naruto with. I decided that since they were doing quite well, and it was good teamwork in the face of Ino's strange 'date' request, I'd let them get away with that.

"And even though it seemed a bit suspicious, well, other than to chide them for it taking up valuable focus, I don't have a hand in their romantic issues."

"Excuse me," Kurenai said, somewhat sharply, her eyes narrowing. "Ino - 'date request'?"

"Some strange idea she had about it improving teamwork," Kakashi said with a shrug. "She told Naruto it wouldn't be romantic - to consider it training for later 'real' dates."

"Huh," Kurenai allowed, frowning. "That'll be something to keep an eye out for tomorrow, then."

Anko gave a nod at that, raising her eyebrows. "Blondie's just playing with the boy," she judged, uninvited. "Trying to get on his good side to get protection from mean old Kakashi during morning training. Not bad seduction practice, and she's playing pretty smart-"

"She's _twelve_," Kurenai overrode her suddenly. "I don't care how relatively 'tame' it is, don't you have some worries about what this does to them?"

The special jounin huffed a very brief sigh and bit back whatever she was going to say, shrugging before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Manipulating people is part of the art of ninja," Asuma determined, allowing the smoke of ideas to escape his meditative focus, filling the void in discussion. "Ino is being responsible - all things considered."

Kurenai shot him an _incredibly_ sharp look at that.

"And, is sensei jealous for Hinata not getting more of Naruto's attention?" Anko asked with a toothy smirk, her brief restraint not lasting.

Asuma was glad he didn't have to be the one who brought that point to bear; but he swiftly added that thought to the blaze.

On of the red eyed woman's eyebrows twitched a fine distance, but she bit her tongue, ordering her argument before she spoke. "I believe allowing careless relationships at this age between almost any of the students would be a mistake," she explained. "It would be just as disastrous if Sasuke were to suddenly change attitude and decided to encourage Sakura and Ino to compete for his attention. This is a lot of potentially unneeded drama."

"In that case, it is well that this is exposed so you can curb those things before they are an issue," Asuma determined, breaking from his meditation enough to give her a rage-blunting smile of confident encouragement. "You will see them tomorrow, after all. In the meantime ... Hinata, Sasuke, and Kiba?"

"I put Sasuke and Kiba to work climbing trees; the Uchiha boy was doing better at it than Kiba, but unless they spend a lot of personal time on it, they've got a lot of work to go." Kurenai paused, then added, "Hinata already knew the exercise, as well as walking on water."

Asuma nodded, not terribly surprised that a Hyuuga had such ability. Chakra control was what they were all _about_.

Especially of other people, through their tenketsu.

So being good at the relatively 'easy' exercises was effectively mandatory for any member of the clan, unless they had absolutely no ninja ambition.

"In recognition of that, I'm giving her a head start on shunshin," she added.

Kakashi gave a nod at that; so did Asuma. It seemed reasonable. Kakashi would probably consider it a good improvement to her otherwise sometimes low mobility. With her precision, she'd probably be able to benefit from shunshin quite a bit.

"The others will all be taught soon enough, but..." She shrugged. "I didn't really have anything else set up, since she's ahead of the other students."

"And going to stay that way, with you slipping her extra lessons like that," Anko jibed, shaking her head.

"Thank you," Kurenai said dryly. "I was able to use Hinata's skill at the training exercise to encourage Kiba and Sasuke to emulate her; she was able to gain some measure of confidence, I think, from being the motivation for those two to improve. I'm just worried about the idea that after all of that, she'll be unexpectedly crushed by Naruto and Ino on a ... 'date'!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Kakashi said with a shrug.

"How hard has she _really_ fallen for Naruto, anyway?" Anko asked, somewhat doubtfully. "I know dedication, you know ... especially from a girl that age."

She seemed to speak with some authority, shooting a hooded gaze at Kakashi, who straightened up for some reason, the light in his visible eye dimming in concentration.

The fire resumed in Asuma's mind, crackling with clarity and significance. Anko and Kurenai were getting along _too_ well for Anko's venom. Therefore ... Kurenai and the other woman were _up_ to something.

He and Kakashi were out of the loop - the two possible targets of such a ploy. Asuma checked his conscience and found himself remarkably clear. Hells, he even forked out the ryo to feed his students - and Kurenai's as well. Not that money wasn't trivial to him, at least at those expense levels; he spent more on tobacco than food in a day.

Not that he'd let Kurenai hear that.

At any rate, his choices were to ignore Kakashi, or help him - but no way would he go against Kurenai in front of her.

"Kakashi's probably right," Kurenai said, somewhat doubtfully.

Anko shrugged at those words, falling silent again with a speculative glance at Kakashi.

For his part, the copy ninja was thoughtful - also quiet.

Asuma had spent years around monks, and _they_ would sometimes be more talkative than the sensei group was being.

Sometimes, it was a pain having to be the deep one. Why couldn't _he_ be flighty? Oh, sure, laugh it up - the meditation expert and former monk was a 'lazy bum'. They could say that all they wanted; a lazy bum would _not_ rack up thirty five million ryo in bounties on his own head in service to the daimyo.

He heaved a very small sigh and fed the bonfire of his meditation with his own affinity; strong winds shoveling power into the blaze, a whirling simoom that tore hungrily through the ideas that had crowded his peripheral clarity.

The abrupt peace he achieved was so profound that all three other ninja turned to look at him. Then, too, it _could_ be that he'd extended his own chakra to lightly commingle with the entirety of the room's air.

Not heavily enough to do much with it, but he reached to the cracks in the door and windows, pulling fresh oxygen in. By the time it reached the almost completely extinguished cigarette, there was enough purified oxygen maintained in the shape that he wanted. The symbol of fire country abruptly ignited - holding form through elemental shaping alone before Asuma as he concentrated.

Another shift, and much more difficult, he described the leaf of Konoha, and the much easier central whirlpool, that subtle nod to long lost allies...

"You have our attention," Anko allowed, her eyes wide with alarm at the reminder that Sarutobi Asuma was, in fact, the current Hokage's son. "What the _hell_!"

"Let us focus on the tasks at hand," he said sternly. "Anko, if you make such observations, do you feel that they are worthy of our consideration, or are you merely bored? I can devise any number of exercises for an idle mind; if Naruto is within the scope of my comprehension, do you truly think you exceed that?"

Okay ... far more condescending than he had intended, but the sharp wisdom of the wind cut deeply, especially with the stinging burn of simoom added to the touch. A fiery maelstrom that left ash and the promise of room for new growth in its wake; he couldn't just grab the woman and bear her down that path, any more than he could haul Kakashi along it.

He restrained his temper, the loose chakra flowing back into him as the fire flickered away, and he released the heat, sinking back further, purely into wind meditation.

"You really think so?" she asked, not _quite_ willing to add the full sarcastic lilt to her voice.

"Do you truly wish to find out?" he wondered. No, no matter. "Very well; Anko, discern the truth of this, but you may only make one pronouncement of what you believe it means in a day. What is the wisdom of this koan: 'When you meet the sage of the six paths in the road, you must kill him'?"

Anko opened her mouth immediately, then thought better, confounded. "Wait, what?" she boggled. "I don't- He would kick your ass! Why would anyone even _try_ that?!"

"Better luck tomorrow," he determined.

A screech of annoyance escaped, before she fixed him with a glare - and Kakashi saw what had really gone on, shooting a veiled but grateful nod to Asuma for the distraction. "I will beat the crap out of your thinky-puzzle," Anko groused. "Just you wait until tomorrow!"

"Indeed." He turned his attention back to Kurenai, who was giving him her thoughtful look. "Any other news concerning our students?"

"Kiba and Sasuke were surprisingly well behaved, though I sense a certain amount of wariness between them," the red eyed woman allowed.

"Good," Asuma decided. At least they wouldn't have to deal with any romantic 'date' nonsense, he thought in satisfaction

"Though, this all being decided-" Kurenai turned and fixed Asuma with a _much_ more deeply considering gaze. "I would like to speak with you in private concerning something else."

His satisfaction faded...

* * *

Hinata was _so_ excited, she could barely restrain herself. She knew she wasn't brilliant at it - yet - but she'd managed shunshin, and she was confident that she could teach Naruto, too! She was so eager to surprise him!

But she was a kunoichi, not a little girl; she would restrain herself and tell him properly in their training session that night. With her father's increased attention, she was starting to realize she'd probably only get to have breakfast and nightly training with Naruto every other night...

That was okay, though! That was an increase of very near infinity percent compared to how much time they got to spend together before graduation!

She managed to restrain herself until after everyone had finished grumbling about their training. She was surprised to see that both Sakura _and_ Ino were calmer about it, and looked much less roughed up than usual after a round with Kakashi. Then again, she reminded herself, they'd had Naruto on their team, and he was amazing; the kind of ninja who naturally would some day become Hokage!

Everyone had finished paying Senzo, preparing to leave their usual meeting place. As soon as Sasuke was out of the door, already knowing who he would spend his next day with, Ino turned to Naruto and without hesitation said words that - strangely - made the entire world shake, nearly tearing apart. How Senzo's didn't collapse at the strain, she would never know.

"Okay, Naruto - let's get to that date, huh?" the blonde asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nn," Hinata tried desperately, barely able to make a noise louder than the faintest wheeze, unable to complete the boy's name. No-no! Even as her eyes began to water, her kekkai genkai activated, bypassing the shimmering curtain of moisture.

"Training," Naruto answered, nodding.

Hinata's heart gave an unsteady beat at that, uncertain if it was wise to continue further - but she had to hear. _Training_? Maybe ... _not_ a date?

"Yeah, exactly," Ino agreed, glancing across the others - but particularly Sakura. Not Hinata. "We're not _really_ going to date. I mean, me and Naruto?"

At his slightly stung look, Hinata fought back the urge to place the edge of a knife-hand between Ino's vertebrae; that would slow Naruto's ascent to the role of Hokage.

The Yamanaka girl continued, "My hair is a great color, but come on, Naruto, there would be way too much of a good thing!" Then she winked, grabbing his arm.

Suddenly, Hinata found herself _fascinated_ with the various tenketsu within a blond girl's hand. She could probably significantly inconvenience Ino without jeopardizing Naruto's rise to Hokage - really, it would probably just be the kind of thing she should do as a friend, if there were any chance Ino would try and hurt him. Thinking about it for more then a second, that felt like the only proper thing to do!

"E...er, right," Naruto agreed, frowning slightly, then pulling his hand free as he made a seal - producing a copy of himself. One of the the two copies of Naruto went to stand by Hinata and dropped a hand to her shoulder without hesitation. "I'm doing real training and practice with Hinata-chan, though."

Hinata had no idea why the furniture in Senzo's kept _breaking_ so easily around them - probably something to do with Shino's kikaichu - but no matter.

She was holding one of Naruto's hands and managing not to tremble with _too_ much excitement. The other genin - especially Ino and Sakura - were staring at her for some reason. "We're going to train!" she agreed eagerly. Ino blinked slowly, turning a hesitant glance to the bunshin with her, who shrugged. "I'll report what I find out later, Boss," he promised.

"Right," the Naruto that Hinata had grabbed a hold of agreed, rifling through his pockets one-handed and producing some ryo, from a painfully thin frog wallet.

Aw, that was so _cute_!

The bunshin took the money with a nod.

Sakura blinked, watching the bunshin and Ino leave, the blonde somewhat surprised at the blond's behavior.

"You," the pink-haired girl said slowly. "You can... You just sent Ino on a date with your _jutsu_?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, frowning slightly. "Why? Is that bad, or something?"

Sakura shook her head in surprise, explaining, "No, that seems perfectly appropriate to me." Then she looked away, muttering, "That is the world's _best_ ten-foot pole..."

"Well, anyway," Naruto said with a shrug, not seeming to hear as he produced another bunshin to visit with Shikamaru and Shino. "Hinata-chan and I are going to practice taijutsu."

"Aww," Kiba whined, frowning. "I wanted you to come over and practice with me- Oh, wait! Send a copy of yourself over!"

"It'll break," Naruto said apologetically. "Though, if you like-" He made another bunshin without hesitation. "You can still hang out."

"Kiba's family is pretty cool," the new bunshin agreed. "I think my favorite member is Akamaru!"

"Mine, too!" Kiba yelped with a surprised grin, while the dog in question gave a slightly preening, knowing nod.

Hinata managed to restrain her smile again; everyone wanted a piece of Naruto-kun, but _she_ got the real one. She found the presence of mind to leave another portion of her weekly allowance behind before leaving.

That was fine, then. Still... The other genin were realizing how wonderful he was. Better to take advantage of her own closeness to him before that changed!

They got to the training ground, and she hesitantly confessed, "U...um, Naruto-kun..." He looked at her expectantly, already surrounded by a circle of six observing bunshin. "A...ah... W...what about, if, instead of practicing taijutsu, w...we were to work on shunshin?"

His eyes widened in eager expectation. "Yeah!" he cheered. "Yes! Oh - that would be _so_ sweet! Hinata-chan, I'd be _so_ happy! You'll teach me that?"

"L...let's trade training," she managed, her face going red at the thought. "W...when I finish teaching you this, y...you should sh...show me w...what ... you learn from I...I...Ino," she sputtered out, each syllable becoming more difficult to form until she finally completed it.

"I-" He cut off, looking confused, and she felt mortified for the single heartbeat it took him to explode into a truly happy grin. "_Yeah_! He cried, grabbing her in a tight hug and spinning around unexpectedly. "I _knew_ you'd come up with some way to let me pay you back for being so awesome!" he gushed.

She felt herself growing faint with happiness. Even when they weren't on the same team she got to spend time with Naruto! Wasn't that nice?

"O...okay, but ... um ... Kurenai-sensei might be upset if she finds out I taught you," Hinata warned. "W...we'll have to be careful."

Naruto nodded slowly, frowning. "Yeah ... and then ... that would mean I couldn't really _use_ it until she taught us... Aw, man..." Then he brightened. "Oh! What a great prank - she'll think when it's time to teach me that I'm just an amazing natural!"

"Yes!" Hinata enthused. "Hokage-material, absolutely!" Which, obviously, he _was_.

"Yeah!"

Some other people might need it to be made more obvious, though.

"Watch closely," she instructed, realizing he wouldn't be able to utilize her kekkai genkai. That would be okay; she could just watch him very, very closely while he practiced.

"Ready!"

The familiar, comforting blaze of his chakra filled her vision, and she shaped the jutsu to flash to a nearby point of their chosen training ground. "It's the seal of the ram," she offered, which he immediately adopted, staring at her avidly. Oh ... Kami ... watching Naruto was one thing, but him watching her- She felt almost as powerful and amazing as ... well ... _Naruto_!

She whispered the name of the technique, pouring her chakra into it and altering her course slightly; it was a space-time jutsu, much like kawarimi, so she didn't _technically_ pass through the space adjacent to the boy she was teaching. Her chakra did, a sort of mathematical signature for the incredibly few fractions of an instant where she stopped existing as matter and became energized, crossing the space between the two points of the technique before collapsing back into her own form, her nerves tingling and jangling more loudly than the relatively subtle tug of kawarimi's after-effects.

"So, did you see?" she asked anxiously, turning to look at Naruto as he marveled at the spot where she had been - and where she was. The bunshin watching it dispersed, reporting back their observations to the blond boy.

"I- Wow!" he exclaimed, blinking. "I really don't think I got that at all!"

"That's okay," she said confidently, trotting back to his side. "Ah ... s...so, to start, it helps to think about where you are, and then where you want to go, right? Then try and grab the chakra of both through just your hara - not the seal," she explained. "Once you think you've got the link set up, then you push through; the energy to mass ratio is somewhere around one to seven, compared to kawarimi's relatively more stable, um, one ... to three..." She trailed off, realizing her explanation was going over his head. "U...um... N...Naruto-kun, this might be easier if... Er, well- How are you at math?"

His visage slowly changed to one of utter horror. "You really need good math to be a ninja?" he asked, his voice quavering in minute fear and uncertainty.

She bit her lip. Oh, this was not good! "N...no, I'm... It's because I'm not much ... good as a kunoichi," she explained quickly. "S...so, I use a lot of, um ... math tricks to make learning new techniques ... easier..." She prepared to flinch away from his reaction at the next part, but: "T...the clan taijutsu ... also has a lot of emphasis on ... mathematical sequences..."

His face became very wan, but he shook his head in determination. "Okay ... well..." He considered things, then sighed and sat down heavily on the training ground's soil. "Damn," he grumbled. "Why does it seem like everything I learned at the Academy wasn't enough to really cover the important stuff about being a ninja?" He didn't _quite_ moan the last part, but she could hear real despair, there.

"Iruka-sensei was trying to teach us all his best, right?" he asked somewhat plaintively.

"Y...yes, absolutely!" she agreed. "A...and he thought you were- You probably didn't need to use math as a shortcut like me; you're really strong, right?"

"Not really," he sighed. "I'm starting to- Never mind! You know what? If math is a _shortcut_, then I sure as hell don't want to deal with the long way!"

Her voice caught in her throat, and she wondered if she had chosen a very _poor_ word combination to try and explain things, just then.

He nodded resolutely. "Okay," he decided. "We'll ... just have to put off shunshin for now if it's a math thing. But that's part of how awesome _you_ really are; you just learned that today?"

She felt her face color, and managed an uncertain nod.

He grinned. "We can still practice taijutsu, right?"

"Yes!" she enthused. "A...and tomorrow, I'll make you breakfast!" she promised.

His grin widened, and another half-dozen bunshin popped into visibility from chakra-smoke around him. "Okay!" he cried out, clenching one fist in resolve before him. "Then after this, we'll go on a date! So don't hold back!"

"I won't!" she swore.


	7. Chapter 7

Motivation Chapter Seven

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. Some tinting is borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

Away from the other genin, Sakura decided that instead of going home, she'd use the evening at Konoha's library. Almost everyone _else_ seemed to be doing something in the way of extra training, after all. She supposed she could have done something with the others, but Sasuke hadn't, either, and she liked the idea of being free if he suddenly decided he'd want a partner.

The library had served her well, but she'd recently been neglecting her academic studies. All of the field work and lecture from their sensei squad was well and good, but she had frequently found out quite a bit of good information there in the past. If even Naruto was hitting the books, well...

At the library entrance, she spotted a strange, unfamiliar looking jounin - he was wearing what looked like a green spandex bodysuit, boots the same color as Naruto's jacket, and with his dark hair in an extremely unflattering bowl cut. He had both eyebrows raised in obvious interest as he listened to a more more normal looking chunin, wearing his hitai-ate as a belt.

"So," the chunin said, "I would have taken care of this myself, but with the new assignment, I really don't have the range..."

"If you're confident it would be good for Lee," the jounin allowed. "How dangerous of a target is this man?"

The chunin grimaced, tugging on his dark braid thoughtfully as he stared up to the sky with gray eyes. "His taijutsu's decent; I'd guess ... mid-chunin skill range. Other than that? He's an amateur with masterwork enten-hari, so ... pretty dangerous," he finally said, turning to look at the jounin, his gaze very briefly flicking across and meeting Sakura's-

More than enough warning to stop staring, she realized, picking up her pace and jogging past.

"Hmm," the jounin grunted. "Alright. Tenten will like having those in her collection. It might be good for Neji, too."

The chunin probably said something in response, but they were lost to distance as she jogged up the steps to the library, making a note to research 'enten-hari' at some later point. What the heck was a 'sun-needle'?

She quickly made her way to the card catalog, humming to herself as she found four likely books on tactical communication. She looked around for an empty seat - there were a handful of people in the library, scattered among the sparse collection of tables and chairs.

There was a brief pause as she glanced at a younger, somewhat pretty pink-haired girl in an orange dress sitting at one of the rearmost tables...

Her hair was shorter, and she seemed to suddenly become faintly nervous upon seeing Sakura... Okay, yeah, she was fairly confident she knew what was going on here.

She made her way to the seat next to the other girl, setting down her own books with a quiet thump and glancing at the reading choice of 'Field Tactics for Larger Squads' by Namikaze Minato. Sakura recalled that book fairly well; the yondaime had a gift for writing things clearly and concisely. The girl could have chosen a much more difficult author for the same information.

Confident that she wasn't going to be making a fool of herself, she turned to the younger 'girl' and asked, quietly, "Your henge is good, but why would a girl that age be reading that book, Naruto?"

The younger version of herself whipped her head around in alarm to stare at her with wide eyes. Huh. Naruto remembered what she looked like back then so well?

Weird. Kind of cute-

Well, she had _thought_ she'd overheard something about 'library' bunshin. This also explained how _he_ of all people found time to read!

"U...um," the bunshin managed, blinking. She- _He_ Sakura corrected herself again. He looked at a clock and then shook his head. "I...I need to put these books away; I'm supposed report to the boss in a few minutes."

"Alright," Sakura said with a shrug, turning to her own heavy tomes. She was pleased to have figured out who Naruto had been, among the crowd, but since they weren't in a fight ... on the extremely small chance that Sasuke might come by, she didn't really want to hang out with him.

Never mind that as far as she knew, Sasuke had never, ever been to the library.

She quickly lost herself in scanning through the texts on communications, making notes on a sheet of paper idly. Probably an hour had gone by, and she'd picked out all of the details she needed from two of the books before she paused to stretch, realizing with surprise that Naruto - looking suspiciously like a younger version of herself, still - was still watching her.

"What?" she asked, somewhat peeved that he was borrowing her image as it was.

"J...just watching you study," she- _He_ said, mildly awed.

She frowned. "Shouldn't you have reported back by now?" she asked.

The bunshin shrugged evasively. "I can report back later," he answered. "The others already did, so the boss knows why I'm still here."

"The 'boss'?" Sakura wondered, turning back to her notes. Hmm ... there wasn't much benefit to trying to make a private code language or a series of communication tricks to hide from Kakashi. Enemy ninja, maybe, but he would undoubtedly be able to pick it apart anyway. Pre-arranged ciphers and rotating codes would probably be for the best.

"Uh... Well, seems better than saying, 'the real me'," the bunshin offered.

Sakura nodded absently; that did make a degree of sense. She started pulling together a quick-reference table of simplified code-words on another sheet of paper.

"You're still here?" she mumbled, glancing sidelong at the smaller 'girl' next to her.

Naruto nodded. "You read really fast," she said, shaking her head.

"I'm skimming," Sakura answered, frowning. "You have to read enough to infer the meanings, then you can just read every other line and fill in the blanks."

The younger version of herself looked scandalized, her eyes widening. "There's a shortcut for _reading_?" she breathed.

Sakura actually turned to face Naruto. "What exactly are you doing here?" she wondered.

"I've been trying to study," the smaller figure replied defensively. "Oh! Hey- Hinata-chan is helping me study a little, but maybe you can, too?"

The larger girl was about to snap at Naruto's bunshin to leave her alone when she stopped to consider.

Naruto's henge was nearly perfect, and Sasuke wasn't likely to come by, anyway. That thought in mind...

"There's no such thing as a free lunch, Naruto," she chided him, setting her pen down. "If you want to _help_ me, then maybe in exchange I'll teach you a thing or two."

"Okay!" the smaller girl said enthusiastically.

"Great," Sakura decided. "Here's what you want to try and figure out: There's this kind of weapon called an 'enten-hari'. Even in the hands of an amateur, this is considered a dangerous weapon! See if you can find out what it is, and where it comes from." Before she could ask anything else, Sakura warned, "That's all the clues I'm going to give you."

Naruto's eyes grew wide as she stared at Sakura before hesitantly nodding. "Finding out about a weapon," she mumbled, rising from the table, taking her book with her. "Okay!"

Sakura shook her head, turning her attention back to her own work as the bunshin trotted eagerly between the shelves. That should keep Naruto busy, and maybe also answer that annoying question at the same time.

* * *

When Ino had told Naruto she didn't know him well and wanted to go on a date with him to know him better, she had really just been following Shikamaru's idea. She'd even further planned on trying to weasel out of it...

But thanks to Naruto, she hadn't gotten blown up _once_ training with Kakashi - even better, Naruto seemed to accomplish the impossible, and remove Kakashi from 'exploding tag' mode to 'lecture' mode. The blond insisted that wasn't an improvement, since the other sensei already did that constantly, but Ino found herself really appreciating the lack of concussive force.

That thought in mind, she decided she would stick the date out, and more than that, try to actually be Naruto's friend. She didn't want to _date_ him, but as an ally... That it seemed to annoy Sakura was just an added bonus. Spiting him to try and score points with Sasuke didn't seem to be working very well - and it _certainly_ wouldn't have gotten her any help against Kakashi.

Probably, it wouldn't help in the 'real' ninja world, either.

She gave a nervous glance around for explosive tags at that - one Naruto caught and copied anxiously for a moment before they both relaxed.

"I guess Bastard-sensei really _is_ keeping us on our toes," Naruto allowed with a lopsided grin.

"I'm not exactly falling over myself to thank him for it," Ino returned.

He nodded fervent agreement.

"Okay - let's get this started. We're skipping some steps, so ... usually dating works by you asking a girl out on a date, right? And then she says 'yes', so you decide where to go and what to do. Since we didn't have time for that, let's go to a restaurant that you like or something; some place we can get just tea, since we already ate earlier."

"Okay!" the bunshin agreed cheerfully. "Ah ... how about going to Ichiraku's for ramen?"

She wanted to complain that they'd just _left_ a noodle place, but bit that back. "That should work for practice," she allowed. "But in the real dating world, girls like to be taken to some place amazing!"

"What if I don't have that much money?" he asked worriedly.

Ino shrugged, following his lead when the blond turned down a side-street. "There are other options," she admitted. "Most girls really like a guy who can cook, even a little. And sometimes you can find small restaurants that are actually really good, just not well known! So, those places might work, too."

"So, maybe this tiny okonomiyaki place I found that's surprisingly good?" Naruto hazarded.

"Well ... I'd have to see it, but that actually sounds alright," she admitted. "It's cozy? You're friendly with the owner?"

"Yeah ... she's pretty cool," he agreed. "But actually, that sounds a lot like Ichiraku's anyway!"

"Really?" Ino wondered, as Naruto gestured ahead of them, to where a pair of customers were just leaving the ramen stand.

He jogged ahead slightly, waving to the old cook behind the counter.

"Oh, hello, Naruto," the cook called out cheerfully. "Ah, another of your friends?"

"Yeah!" Naruto confirmed happily. "Ino-chan is pretending to go on a date with me!"

Teuchi blinked at that, looking slightly confused. "Pretending?" he wondered.

A heartbeat later a young woman emerged from the kitchen with a wide grin, holding a teakettle in one hand, and a pair of cups in the other. "Heya, Naruto!" the woman behind the counter cheered. "Did I hear that you're here on a _date_?"

"We're training," Ino clarified. "Practice for real dates."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I guess I gotta do some D rank training dates to get up to the better ones. Oh! Ino-chan, this is Ayame-nee."

Ino couldn't help but be a little miffed that she'd already been given a 'D' ranking as a date, but admitted that it wasn't like she'd been especially flattering to _him_.

Then again, maybe it was just because he was taking things seriously? In that case, she should, too.

Both of the ramen bar workers stared for a long moment, before Ayame finally gave a small sigh. "I suppose the ninja life is a hard and ... different," she offered.

"Er ... yes, well, what can I get you?" Teuchi asked, still somewhat dazed.

"Just tea," Ino decided. Strange ... she'd never really thought of Naruto as having other friends before. Then again, he'd managed to get on the good sides of many of the other genin - pretty much all of them except for Sasuke and Sakura. Well, the pink haired kunoichi was on her own. Ino was starting to suspect that Naruto, herself, and Sasuke would make a pretty amazing team.

With Naruto focusing on defense, Sasuke handling the offense, and herself focusing on information gathering and controlling strategic targets of opportunity...

She couldn't imagine what Sakura would offer in her place.

It would be hell to pull off, though, as things were at the moment. It sounded more promising than getting stuck with lazy slobs or creepy bug people. The main trick, of course, was to get Naruto to apologize for picking a fight with Sasuke.

Something, Ino decided, once Ayame handed the pair of them teacups, that she could handle on a later date. In the meantime, getting on Naruto's good side wouldn't include giving him bad information; he had to learn at _least_ enough about dating to keep Sakura away from Sasuke.

"Okay," she warned, "listen closely, but this is what girls like..."

Across the counter, Ayame raised one eyebrow, the traces of a smile coming to her lips, while Naruto and - surprisingly enough - Teuchi watched Ino attentively.

* * *

Reading Anko's ANBU file had not really made Kakashi feel better about the entire affair. Add in the fact that he was down to one good contact still among the ANBU, thanks to recent restructuring... He thought that he might have strained that association asking for the paperwork he had.

His attempt to reconnect with the other recently demoted ANBU hadn't worked out quite as well as Kakashi had hoped. The man who had worn the horse mask had been friendly enough, but his wife... She'd had a number of pointed questions about everything Kakashi didn't want to discuss - except Anko, anyway.

And wasn't _that_ a depressing revelation; he could try and tell himself that genuine relationships hadn't been quite so important because he'd been in ANBU. Except ... one of his oldest remaining ANBU associates had been married _while in ANBU_. That seemed to utterly demolish one of his better arguments for his situation. It wasn't even a special dispensation ... any ANBU's non-ninja persona could do as they wished, as long as they didn't attract undue attention.

Thwarted on that front, he found himself standing before the door to Anko's apartment once again.

He'd read the file, sure, but it was hard to really let some of those things click.

Anko's personality ... weathering what she had...

He remembered the last ninja war, and she would have, too. But his view was from the front ... not in the depths of Konoha's war laboratories. He came into his own on the battlefield, but the crucible of her formation made him feel ashamed of himself for questioning her.

He was the one who had failed those who relied on him.

She was the one who had been failed by those who she had relied on.

Now - _now_ he could see where that dim shine came from. And just when she was starting to show that she might be able to trust and rely on him...

...he'd gone behind her back and betrayed that forming trust.

What, exactly, was he going to tell her? He hadn't thought a thing through, struggling under the fact that - once again - he'd failed. The door opened, revealing the reserved, somewhat suspicious expression of the woman in question as she stared at him.

Abruptly, she smiled, gesturing him inside. "Welcome back, _dear_," she purred.

* * *

After Naruto's bunshin dispersed, Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest and shot a glance to Shino. For his part, recovered from the shell-game and kawarimi practice, the Aburame boy looked thoughtful.

"I think we're hitting a dead end on research into his background," Shikamaru mused. "At least, through conventional channels."

"What approaches remain unexplored?" Shino returned.

"Death records are kept in a vault with relatively weak security, all things considered," Shikamaru said, almost offhandedly.

Shino actually lowered his face enough to stare at the Nara boy over his dark glasses. Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Even if security is low, breaking in could easily jeopardize our genin status. However, I happen know that there is a vault that shares a wall with that vault ... which is unsecured."

"Ah," Shino responded. "Byakugan."

"I can't think of anything else," Shikamaru admitted with a shrug. "Nothing else I'm comfortable risking, at least."

"And what is contained in this unsecured vault?"

"Land ownership records," Shikamaru answered, making a dismissive gesture. "As the Nara clan holds some territory outside of the city, my father goes there every so often. I'll see about finding a reason to go there, and figuring out how to distract Naruto at the time."

"Then it falls to me to inform Hinata." Shino paused, thinking things over and calculating the other things that Shikamaru had not said. "I also will be required to cocoon myself in your image for this journey to the vault."

"That's right."

"Hinata's kekkai genkai would surpass a normal henge."

Shikamaru nodded.

Shino adopted a somewhat sour expression behind his coat and glasses, then shifted to look like Shikamaru in- Not quite just a puff of chakra, though that had been there, too... There was a rippling, creeping _surge_ of kikaichu.

"You think that might fool a Byakugan?" Shikamaru wondered.

"Probably not," the Aburame in henge replied, heaving a tiny sigh, grimacing as one hand pressed against his forehead. "Troublesome."

The shadow-user allowed himself to crack a small smile. "Naruto's henge is getting pretty good. Maybe ask him for some tips?"

"Indeed," Shino agreed.

With that, the pair nodded at one another, and the Aburame boy's henge dismissed with the same strange rippling and minimal puff of chakra. Turning smoothly away, Shino marched around the corner of the Nara house, towards the front gate. Shikamaru looked up at the sky again, once he was alone.

He didn't like going behind Naruto's back like this. It didn't feel right.

On the other hand, he couldn't fully judge Naruto's true potential if he didn't know exactly what secrets he might be hiding.

And just a little bit, though he wouldn't even share this with Shino ... he was scared of whatever it was that the Uzumaki boy had hidden, if it was more powerful than the 'forbidden' kage bunshin.

* * *

If she'd come on a bit too strong, Kakashi didn't seem to notice. He'd given her the same look he always did, more or less, then moved to take a seat on her couch, sitting on just the edge, with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together.

She pursed her lips and moved to sit next to him. What ... was the jerk thinking of breaking up with her because of her file?

"What's going on?" she asked dubiously.

If he thought he could get rid of her that easily, well, she could make the Hokage's order's _very_ uncomfortable for him!

"Anko," he said slowly, with careful deliberation, his lone visible eye going away, to the coffee table. "Listen ... I ... think that we maybe started off on a very awkward foot ... but for the first time in a very long time, I wonder if it might have been a very good thing after all?"

She was caught off guard, unbalanced by that comment. He ... wanted to stick with her? After reading her file?

Her position in the couch shifted as he swiveled, bringing his knees onto the couch as he straightened his back up, dropping his hands to his lap. "Anyway ... wanting this thing to be good, I think that I need to be honest - I asked a friend in ANBU to hand me some information on you." He shrugged, looking glumly apologetic.

She felt her indignation strangely quashed by this sudden brazen confession. She was still furious with him, but now had no idea how to launch into a tirade against him. The woman groped for words or an argument, struggling to find something to say in anger, coming up strangely blank.

"To be fair," he said, looking at the cluttered magazines littering the coffee table, "I asked for nothing more than general information. Nothing secret. I didn't want to dig so deeply..."

Her anger flickered, and she suddenly felt very tired.

"So ... what did you find out?" she wondered.

"I found out about your teacher." He admitted, "I hadn't realized who it was."

"Oh," she managed, very quietly. "I... I thought..." What had she thought, anyway? That Kakashi was being an asshole...

Well, no, he was _still_ an asshole.

"You could have asked me!" she snapped.

"And I should have," he admitted. "So ... I had to tell you that in honesty."

He didn't even flinch when she found the energy to backhand him, just snapping his head back and falling off the couch from the force of the blow. The copy ninja landed, not quite in a heap, but not exactly crouched for reprisal.

Obviously, he'd _let_ her hit him.

"Asshole," she managed, irritated she couldn't summon anything more colorful.

After a heartbeat, she added, "Your ANBU friend gave me some dirt on you, too."

"Ah," he replied from the floor, not really seeming to react otherwise.

"About ... your eye and your father," she elaborated.

"Ah," he said again, nodding slightly. "I have ... been somewhat less than forthcoming."

"That's ... it?" she asked, still feeling robbed of confrontation. "We just ... get that out with?"

Still not moving from the floor, Kakashi suggested, "I hear normal couples have make-up sex after their arguments."

She snorted at that, rolling her eyes. "Let's do that other thing where we just sleep together. I hate talking."

He rolled to his feet, looking remarkably undamaged, but unmistakably grateful.

"And tomorrow, before breakfast, we can exchange all those painful little details together," she added.

He stiffened for a moment, then gave an accepting nod.

"Also, I went over the paperwork I got on you with Kurenai. Convinced her to give you a hard time for going behind my back."

"No wonder you were in such a good mood when I came home," he sighed.

She grinned at the way he said 'home' instead of 'back'. Fine, then; he may be an occasional asshole, but for now, he was _hers_.

Plus, she'd have the option of killing him in his sleep - assuming he didn't do it to her first. This thing with being more open ... maybe it would work after all.

...why did she want it to work so bad? Why was she willing to forgive him, after all that time trying to really properly stoke her resentment?

* * *

After training, Hinata had been glad that Naruto's chakra - reinforced as always by the constant pulsations from the seal, centered as it was directly above his hara - brought him back to his feet first. He explained that his bunshin had all reported in, and then, just like she hoped, he hauled her upright and helped her stagger into town - strangely enough, to the same okonomiyaki stand she'd gone to with Shikamaru and Shino previously.

The dark-haired former ANBU officer was just taking down the shop's sign for his wife when she spotted them, insisting they come inside anyway.

They had a handful of okonomiyaki while the chef gently corrected a great deal of what Naruto had learned, once it was explained that they were on a practice date. Her husband had just looked strangely uncomfortable the entire time, flipping through a bingo book and shaking his head.

After that, Naruto had gone ahead and walked her home, just as she'd hoped he would - and then, immediately inside the gates of the Hyuuga compound, she collided with her father.

"F...Father!" she yelped in alarm, nearly collapsing backwards, barely maintaining her balance.

He grunted at her, narrowing his eyes. "What is it that you're doing, coming home so exhausted, Hinata?" he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest, staring down at her sternly with both eyebrows raised, and his byakugan active.

"Training!" she blurted out, too stunned to try and lie. "M...my teammates and I, w...we train, very hard... Almost every day."

"I am curbing this overzealous training," he warned her abruptly, shaking his head.

Her head spun in response ... she wondered if the Hokage would grant amnesty if she were to plead? Maybe if she begged for the caged bird seal as a lesser sentence?

"If it's not by order of your teachers, I'm only permitting this unsupervised training of yours every other day," he reproved. "Otherwise, when you are released from your duties, your energy will be put to better use, practicing the family style as is proper."

She resisted the impulse to stare at him in mute shock; he wasn't asking her a question, so she gave an automatic, dutiful nod of compliance and understanding. She could still train with Naruto ... every other day?

Somehow, that made everything bearable, again. Maybe ... some day she could get strong enough, like him, and have a bunshin to spend time with him while she was training with her father?

She knew how Naruto would treat this proclamation. She recovered her senses and gave the imposing figure of the Hyuuga patriarch a look of absolute determination. "I am honored to be granted so much of your attention, Father," she swore. This was an opportunity to try and learn something for Naruto, even if it meant she wouldn't get to spend as much time with him as she'd liked...

Her father's grim visage betrayed the smallest, nearly hidden traces of an approving smile. "I am pleased that you understand," he declared in a bored, impassive tone. "You are to wash and go to bed immediately; no morning training before your jounin-sensei demands your attention, tomorrow."

"Understood," she replied instantly, nodding, already marching towards the main building.

"Oh," he said, as an aside, reaching a hand out and freezing her in place with a single touch to her shoulder. He leaned close, his seal-marked folding fan flying open in his other hand, concealing his mouth from anyone else who might be watching through walls elsewhere across the compound as he whispered, "If you are to carelessly become pregnant while unwed ... I will become _very_ displeased."

He rose, the fan immediately folding away and vanishing into the sash of his robes - or his sleeves. Hinata was too flustered to activate her kekkai genkai and be certain.

She blinked, raw alarm overriding any attempt at self-control as she jerked a nervous nod in response. "U...understood," she managed, weakly.

"Good," he said, nodding as he strode away.

* * *

Though he hadn't really been expecting it, Choji found that his new life as a ninja fell into familiar, comfortable patterns. He didn't always know who he would be on a team with, but for the most part, he was able to see that his teammates were reliable. Even better, since Naruto and Sasuke were busy fighting any time Sakura and Ino weren't, the others had all been too distracted to tease him.

And that had worked just fine, right up until Naruto's first 'training game'. There, Kiba had chosen him because they knew one-another, and no other reason.

Shikamaru knew Choji and could judge him accurately. He hadn't expected the Inuzuka boy to start seeing genuine combat potential in the Akimichi frame, but that was out, and now instead of hiding from being mocked, Choji found himself someplace very unusual for him.

He was slightly more than adequate.

There was no profound praise, nor were there harsh rebukes. Around him, the other genin simply _were_, as though the eight of them were too busy caught up in their own issues, and none of them had _time_ to notice Choji by the sidelines - except that he wasn't a liability.

Strangely, he found that he was growing increasingly comfortable with this - being acknowledged and then ignored.

But by that same token, he knew it wouldn't last forever...

After a dull, but easily survivable day with Asuma, he joined up with Shikamaru and Shino again, ready to weather Kakashi's training.

For whatever reason, Shikamaru and Shino were standing a good distance apart, both leaning on the same railing of the bridge. He moved wordlessly to stand between them, when without even opening his eyes, Shikamaru warned, "We're almost exactly one explosive tag radius apart; you should be safe if you switch to the other side of the bridge from us."

Nodding, Choji crossed over, between and opposite the other boys.

Pulling a bag of chips from his belt pouch, Choji wondered, "Do you think we'll get a lecture instead of practice, like Naruto?"

"Only if he gets tired of showing us all the ways we could have really died in the field," Shikamaru answered with a shrug.

"That's okay ... you're here, and so is Shino. If we can win as a team, I think we will."

Shino adjusted his glasses slightly, seeming to notice Choji almost for the first time. "Indeed," he agreed. "Teamwork is the answer."

After that, the trio was greeted by Kakashi appearing and announcing very brightly, "Good morning, students; we've got a lot of combat practice to get through before you're caught up to Sasuke's girlfriends - and Naruto - so let's get to it!"

From there, despite all of Shikamaru's evident planning (kawarimi being the most obvious defense), Kakashi shoved each of them into the river and then led them on a chase to the practice ground.

"Slow up," Shikamaru ordered, once they climbed out of the water and Shino was set to follow. After heaving a sigh, he groused, "It's a test of our awareness as much as anything else."

Shino nodded. "A kikaichu clone is following him," he announced. "We must maintain formation for defensive value as we proceed towards the target."

"Tell me where to go," Choji offered. He was solid. He might not know the way to go, but he could take point.

Shikamaru fell into step behind him, and Shino moved to his side, as a Kakashi kage bunshin popped up over a nearby roof and flung a trio of senbon at them.

Without a kunai readied, Choji had to settle for the significantly clumsier method of letting them sink harmlessly into the flesh of his hands. Well, harmless except for the pain, anyway. Thankfully, they were kage bunshin senbon, and so vanished into chakra smoke before needing to be pulled. Still, the penalty for delaying had been well established.

"My cute little students ... when taking point, be prepared to defend yourself and your teammates!"

The looming question in Choji's mind was ... what had happened to the uninspired Naruto who had been 'dead last' in class? Where had the one that made even the dreaded Bastard-sensei acknowledge his skill come from?

More importantly... With all of the drama Choji had tried to avoid being involved with ... was Naruto still his friend?

* * *

Free of Kakashi, both Sakura and Ino were civil to one-another, though Naruto was certain there was some tension between them anyway. Some hidden, invisible force seemed to pass between the two of them, making an impression on the edge of his senses and constantly making him itch, like an explosive tag was on the way in.

Kurenai was as cheerful as ever, even though Naruto was a bit put off that Hinata hadn't come over - again. There would have to be a good reason for that ... but waking up with her nearby had really done worlds of good to getting rid of Mizuki's pleading face, and losing that...

He hadn't even really realized how much he appreciated what she'd done for him, and then it abruptly stopped. Maybe he was being a bad friend to her?

That was worth considering, but Kurenai didn't seem to notice that he was trying to figure something like that out, and Sakura and Ino were quietly engaged in some sort of duel he was only barely able to tell was even going on. After that, she cheerfully demonstrated how tree-climbing worked, and told them to start practicing.

And a shift in focus was just the thing Naruto was looking for, so he eagerly threw himself into practicing...

Of course, Sakura took her time, not even starting until after she'd thought about it for a good five minutes.

Then she walked slowly to the top of the tree from there and sat down on one of the higher branches to watch her teammates.

Ino hadn't watched Sakura at all, just focusing on her own attempt until her first tumble. She managed a neat landing anyway, which was better than Naruto had accomplished. For his part, three attempts left him fumbling so badly he fell off the tree twice, and once managed to trip _up_ the tree, almost slamming his face into the unforgiving trunk.

Sakura had laughed at him quietly, then asked, "Do you need help, Naruto?"

"Um," he said, sitting in a pile at the bottom of his tree, scratching the back of his head. Ino was making steady progress; probably she'd be more than halfway up the tree by lunch. For himself... "I could use some!" he said, nodding quickly.

Snorting, she pink-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest from her perch. "Think about what you're doing before you do it," she chastised him. "You still didn't figure out that thing I told you to research yesterday, did you?"

He resisted the urge to pout, instead turning his gaze to stare at the tree trunk. He'd sent a bunshin to pester the head chunin instructor at the academy about Sakura's question, since even staying late at the library he hadn't gotten any answers trying to find whatever an 'enten-hari' was.

"I'm working on it," he answered.

And, anyway ... if he understood things, Sakura was going to withhold her help until he managed to answer _her_ questions. Oh well. He turned a curious look at the blond girl, who had stopped to catch her breath, studying her tree thoughtfully between attempts. He'd really rather get on the pink-haired girl's good side ... but Ino already seemed to like him.

"Ino-chan, you're doing better than me," he offered. "Hey, maybe we can practice together and help each other out?"

She turned to look back at him, raising an eyebrow and offering a small smile. "Sure!" she replied, nodding. "As teammates, we look out for each other like this all the time, right? I'll help you, Naruto! No problem at all!"

For some reason, the silently observing figure of Kurenai looked doubtful ... but she said nothing to either of the golden-haired genin, instead tilting her gaze upwards to take in Sakura, who looked annoyed for reasons Naruto couldn't quite figure out.

"Alright, Sakura," the teacher remarked, before the pink-haired girl could comment. "Since you've gotten a good grasp of tree-climbing, let's work on the next important skill; come down here, and we'll leave these two to practice while I get you started on water walking, alright?"

"Good for you, Sakura-chan!" Naruto encouraged, as he finished trotting to Ino's side. He grinned and waved at the pink-haired girl. "Practice hard; Ino-chan and I are gonna catch up in no time!"

Kurenai nodded, then made Naruto's _own_ favorite hand-seal, leaving ... either herself or a bunshin behind to watch over himself and Ino, while the other went off through the trees with Sakura.

"You two are doing very well," the woman said warmly, once Sakura was out of earshot. "It's especially good that you're focusing on teamwork so much! I understand that Kakashi-sensei spends quite a bit of time drilling with you in that?"

Ino and Naruto exchanged a glance before nodding.

"Mm," the woman mused, nodding slowly. "Well, keep practicing!"

Naruto shook his head and turned to Ino. "I get the part about sending chakra out through my feet, but sometimes it feels like I'm sticking too hard, and sometimes I just fall off right away!" he complained.

The blonde looked thoughtful for a minute. "Well, you're sending out a consistent amount of chakra, right?" she asked. "You generate a bunch of it in your hara, and then use the same amount with each step?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head and allowed a nervous chuckle to escape. "Uh ... so ... you have to time it against the pulses of chakra that refill your hara?" he wondered.

Ino's expression became very skeptical. "Naruto ... that should only happen when you're trying to draw in more chakra. I don't think you want to generate more chakra while you're learning a training exercise. Gather, spend, step - and then when you're steady, gather more chakra... Like that!"

"Yes," Kurenai agreed. "Trying to utilize your chakra system while performing other skills is something you will want to do as a ninja, but it's generally better to learn the skill first, and then practice using it while focusing additional chakra later."

"Yeah, but ... this isn't the chakra you gather for like, something really major, like a jutsu," Naruto protested, "this is just the stuff that happens all the time, right? You know ... how you're just minding your own business, and then sometimes your hara sends out a big surge of chakra for no real reason?"

Ino stared blankly.

Kurenai looked mildly puzzled, until sudden comprehension seemed to dawn on her. "Ah ... Naruto," she said slowly, her eyes tracking away. "That... I believe Asuma-sensei will be able to explain more to you about that, but for the time being ... when that happens it's like a hiccup, right? Your chakra system becomes ... unsteady for a brief period?"

"Yeah, so anything you've got to keep using chakra for is really hard to rely on," he said, nodding. A regular bunshin, for example. His techniques all had to work around that inherent unreliability of chakra; the henge was straightforward. Once he assembled the image and fed it chakra, the technique was done. Kage bunshin worked the same way; once they were around, they were there.

Tree walking, though ... that was a constant process that he needed to monitor, and the regular surges of chakra from within... Well, once he spent even a moment to think about it... From the _kyuubi_... Maybe other people wouldn't have that kind of an issue? But, how was he supposed to practice around it, if no one else in the world seemed to have a similar situation?

Or know what to do about it?

What a depressing thought.

"Well, personally, I've found that the best way to defeat hiccups is by holding my breath," Kurenai said after a moment of thoughtful pause. "So! Why don't we try the equivalent, and see how it works for you?"

"Huh?" Ino and Naruto replied together.

The jounin explained, "When you learned the leaf focus exercise, Naruto, you learned to suppress those surges of chakra. I know I said it's normally not productive to mix and match exercises ... but in your case, it may be somewhat easier to learn this if you practice the leaf focus exercise, as well; that will reinforce your chakra control, and allow you to overcome those surges."

He blinked at that. That had to be one of the first times he'd ever gotten _anything_ explained to him by a teacher that made sense without another student translating for him.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, immediately finding a likely leaf and sticking it to his forehead. He went through the steps to focus, and once he was confident the leaf was securely stuck, he placed one foot against the trunk of the tree with cautious, careful deliberation. It took almost a full minute to shuffle up five steps, but suddenly, he _understood_ it. He nearly fell off the tree in his excitement, only the safety net of the leaf concentration exercise keeping him steady.

"Very good!" Kurenai praised him, nodding. "Now, Ino, your chakra control is already well developed, so you should be able to follow!"

"Naruto!" Ino complained, smiling, but sounding a tiny bit frustrated anyway. "You've got to help _me_ out, now!"

"Of course!" he agreed, two steps later. "I guess this must be the slow way to do it..." He was making significantly worse time than Sakura, that was certain.

"We learn to crawl before we learn to walk," Kurenai said simply. "There's nothing to be ashamed of here."

That was encouraging; he'd be sure to put dozens of bunshin on the exercise later. He was willing to bet that if he played his cards right, he could give Shino, Shikamaru, and Choji a _huge_ edge on the tree-climbing exercise, in terms of what he could learn about it.

To say nothing of the potential to be able to just jog up the tree at a whim - that would be awesome, too! First, though ... as his friend Kuonji's wife needed to point out a few times while he was trying to explain dating to Hinata, he needed to work on his ability to teach people things.

"Okay!" he said cheerfully. "So, this is what I've figured out so far..."

* * *

With Shikamaru's stratagems, and Choji's rugged resilience, the trio had managed to weather Kakashi's onslaught for a good half an hour straight before he finally relented. Shino was fairly certain that the one-eyed bastard had a vendetta against his student's clothes - or more likely, he wanted to leave as many reminders of the severity of combat with them as possible.

Either way, it was an annoyance, so when he finally told them they had progressed, and earned a day of lecture, Shino unleashed the reserve of kikaichu he had been withholding, and sent a copy of their team into the clearing ahead of the genin.

One explosive trap later, and Shino felt the acute loss of all those kikaichu... That trick was cheaper for Naruto by far.

But that was the genuine end of hostilities, at least, on the jounin's part. A carefully thrown cluster of senbon were all dodged, almost as if on accident. Shikamaru tried that once only, and then quit while he was ahead. Aside from which, the lecture was more interesting than almost anything else they'd had from their collective sensei.

After that was the now-habitual meeting at Senzo's, where they got their usual table, and the genin all gathered to trade notes.

More importantly for Shino, it was the first time he had seen Naruto in almost an entire day; he was eager to discover how well the kikaichu he had left with the blond had done. His own kikaichu found the stragglers, and slowly replaced them with fresh scouts; he tuned out most of the discussion while picking out the best of the lot to prepare the next generation.

Hmm ... the most efficient way to do this would be to breed two strains of kikaichu for the same purpose in parallel ... and then commingle them when positive traits emerged. He decided that as he processed the information they had gathered; nothing surprising, in any event.

When the meal ended, Hinata broke a long silence to offer Naruto a stuttering apology. "U...um, Naruto-kun, I ... have to go home to train again, and that's ... why I wasn't by this morning. U...um, my father says that I n...need to do that every other day at least..."

"Well ... that's great!" Naruto said, though Shino felt it was somewhat lacking in conviction.

"How else will we become strong, if we don't take advantage of opportunities to train when they arise?" Sasuke contributed unexpectedly.

Shino managed not to visibly react, but he felt taken off guard by the usually standoffish boy offering something solid suddenly - and hadn't really been following the conversation right until that point.

"Oh, hey - that means you can train with me, then!" Kiba yelped excitedly. "Come on, Naruto!"

"Hey - that's true!" Naruto agreed, cheering slightly. "Alright, Hinata-chan - good luck on your training; we'll be able to practice tomorrow, right?"

"Y...yes!" she agreed, nodding her head vigorously. "Ah- I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun!" With that, she paid the waitress on her way out, and dashed away.

Sasuke turned a skeptical gaze to Choji, though he said nothing, until he glanced at Ino and Sakura. "What do you two do with your idle time?" he asked.

"What?" Sakura asked, taken aback, before shaking her head. "Er- I'm free, if you wanted to go on a date!"

"Hey!" Ino protested, shooting to her feet so quickly she knocked over her chair. "Sasuke, don't go on a date with her-"

"Dating is not important," Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "I don't have time to date anyone - because I'm training. If you have so much free time to date, then maybe you should be training instead."

"I'll train with you," Sakura offered quickly. "I already figured out the tree-walking exercise - I've almost got water-walking, too!"

"Really?" Naruto asked, surprised. "Nice job!"

Sasuke looked briefly annoyed before shaking his head again. "I don't want to slow myself down to help you," he chided. "Naruto and the others are doing combat drills and serious workouts on their free time - why shouldn't you do the same?"

"Don't hold it in," Shikamaru remarked dryly. "Tell us how you _really_ feel."

"This isn't something to laugh off," Sasuke said irritably, not even glancing to Shikamaru. "Why _haven't_ you two been training harder?"

"I've been working on a cipher so we can develop a code-language for use in missions," Sakura answered, unable to keep from shooting Sasuke a small, hurt scowl.

"And I _have_ been training at home," Ino added, frowning.

"Really?" he asked. "Because the way I heard it, Uzumaki pulled you both out of the line of fire until Kakashi got tired of dealing with his bunshin and called it quits."

"You're an idiot," Naruto finally snapped. "Why are you picking on Sakura-chan and Ino-chan? The point of Bastard-sensei's exercise was to force us to really work as a team - and we all did that. I'm pretty awesome, but we all would have been toast if Sakura-chan didn't remove those senbon, or Ino-chan hadn't decided to try and make up for being mean to Shino in the first place!"

Shino blinked at that last part, unintentionally swiveling his gaze to the blonde girl, who looked momentarily startled, before giving a quick nod, not meeting the Aburame boy's gaze. "Y...yeah," she agreed. "I got off on the wrong foot because ... um..."

Sakura looked uncertain, but said nothing.

Sasuke nodded dubiously. "All the same," he said, shrugging, "if you've got free time..." With that, he dropped a small stack of ryo on the table and walked away.

"That guy," Kiba growled, once the door was closed. "Man! He doesn't have to be so dog-damned harsh..."

"Well," Shikamaru mused. "I'm interested in this cipher, Sakura. I'd like to discuss that with you later."

Ino scowled, then shook her head, turning to Naruto. "Hey, give me a bunshin to help me practice!" she demanded.

Sighing, Naruto outlined the weaknesses of a kage bunshin, but she rolled her eyes.

"Never mind that," she said. "I need someone else to help me practice my clan techniques."

Shino thoughtfully bugged her at that, curious to see where this would go.

"Well ... okay, sure," Naruto agreed, making a copy of himself.

Kiba crossed his arms, and Akamaru glanced between the two instances of the boy. "That's got to be pretty nice, being able to send a copy of yourself with every friend you hang out with," he remarked.

"Totally," both Naruto agreed, before exchanging a high-five.

Shino realized after a moment that the kikaichu, living beings, were not duplicated by the technique. He was able to discern which Naruto was the real one. The bunshin had a convincing copy of the pheromone records, but live kikaichu would periodically update that.

After a moment of light-hearted banter, the bunshin went to stand by Ino.

If Ino was able to practice her art on a bunshin ... would she be able to discover Naruto's S rank secret? Had that idea occurred to Naruto?

"I believe your technique might cause a bunshin to disperse," Shino warned.

Shikamaru nodded, evidently thinking along similar lines.

Ino shook her head, smirking. "I'm supposed to be able to practice sensing people's presences - it's not like I'm going to be doing anything more than that."

"That sounds pretty useful," Naruto remarked.

"Sensors are considered to be a rare type of ninja," Sakura grudgingly admitted. "That's why ninja from clans like Kiba's or Hinata's tend to be placed as hunter-nin and scouts."

Kiba nodded his agreement to that remark. Shino kept his face impassive, wondering why the Aburame clan didn't have such a reputation.

"So, there you go," Ino said insistently, grabbing the real Naruto by his arm and dragging him away. A swift kawarimi swapped him with his bunshin, and the blonde didn't even appear to notice.

Naruto chuckled, shaking his head at that. "Anyway, Choji, why don't you practice with me and Kiba? Heck, you can probably practice with Kiba when I'm practicing with Hinata, too."

"Maybe then," Choji said reluctantly. "I'm actually supposed to be training with my father tonight ... I suppose if that's what we're all doing ... well, I don't want to be the one guy taking it easy."

Akamaru whimpered, and Kiba offer a sympathetic nod. "Hey, Naruto turned things around - so did Shikamaru. That leaves it to me and you to become the next bad-asses, right, Choji?" the Inuzuka boy chuckled.

"I guess so..."

"You're a trend-setter, Naruto-kun," Shikamaru observed. "Well, anyway. I'll see you tomorrow, Kiba. Take care Choji." He offered a nod for Sakura as well.

Naruto produced another bunshin effortlessly, this one to walk with Shino and Shikamaru. Sakura shook her head abruptly and turned her attention to her watch. "I want to get to the library before five," she grumbled, hurrying out of the restaurant.

Something else to wonder about, but Shino didn't have the kikaichu to spare, at the moment. Something else to work on.

Back at the Nara residence, they retreated to work on their shell-game training. The entire time, Naruto explained what he'd figured out about Kurenai's exercises, and what Ino had told him from her own observations.

"Excellent work," Shikamaru judged, contemplating. "I think ... Sakura's control is better than mine. I somehow doubt I'll pick it up as quickly as her."

"Similar for myself," Shino conceded. He trusted the shadow-user's judgment in these matters. Still, knowledge in advance was a substantial aid.

* * *

Despite the dark - or maybe, because of it - Sasuke kept training.

What would the point have been in chastising those two girls, if he himself wasn't able to adhere to the ideal he had warned them about? Of course ... that wasn't addressing the real point.

He despised the place, thanks to the memories it left him with ... but he was no coward; he wouldn't run.

Even after the massacre, he still maintained the Uchiha training grounds personally. And naturally, used them.

It was a pain in the ass, and there wasn't anyone around to even be aware that he had _done_ it, but that wasn't the point. The point was, it was the only training area he had access to where he could guarantee that no sympathetic idiots would pop in and offer encouraging words before suggesting he relax a little.

He'd take training, if they were to offer it, but inevitably, they didn't want to. After all, he was an Uchiha; they were supposed to be geniuses. Wasn't Sasuke going to take after his brother?

He sat up from where he was catching his breath and stared into the gloom surrounding his chosen portion of the training grounds - the trees bordering the lake where he'd first started practicing his fire jutsu. His chosen tree was marked with numerous kunai slashes, each higher than the next. He was irritated that his progress had been strangely consistent - a step or two higher each attempt.

Why hadn't he ever reached some insight or suddenly leapt forward some higher number of steps?

For that matter, why hadn't he ever stumbled and fallen short at any point?

There was something to that, he was certain, and until he figured it out, throwing himself at the tree was only giving him minimal progress. If that was all he could get, of course, he'd take it ... but it seemed there had to be some better way to do it. He idly wondered how Naruto had performed when he tried it, but savagely crushed that thought.

He didn't have time to concern himself with he blond boy. He was no longer a threat to Sasuke's genin status - not like Sakura and Ino were.

Thinking about it hadn't yielded results yet. Fine - another attempt at the tree.

Steeling himself, he charged again, effortlessly slipping up the first handful of steps, until an unexpected voice distracted him, cheerfully calling out, "And what's my cute little student doing by himself in this dark corner of Konoha?"

Sasuke's balance was shot; he misstepped, using too much chakra, and tore a strip of bark off with the sole of his sandals before tumbling into the night.

Faster than he could try and catch himself, he felt an unseen presence grab the back collar of his shirt, and then for an instant the entirety of the dim night seemed to shift to a colorless gray before he found himself standing unsteadily at the base of the tree.

"You know," the legendary copy bastard mused absently from behind him, "training alone can be quite dangerous."

"I was doing fine until you distracted me," he grumbled sourly, unsure why Kakashi had interrupted him in the first place. Or, for that matter, what the hell he thought he was doing on privately owned land at this hour.

When he turned around to regard the man in the weak lighting, Kakashi's gaze was on the sliver of moon reflected in the lake.

Since he wasn't forthcoming, Sasuke finally asked, "Why are you here?"

"I had a surprisingly productive conversation on the nature of trust, and how important it is to teams," Kakashi offered. "I thought - as one sharingan-user to another - you might be interested in that insight!"

Sasuke ignored the overarching message and instead bluntly asked, "How did you get a sharingan?" Crossing his arms over his chest and peering at Kakashi doubtfully he asked, "Are you related to my family?"

Kakashi made a thoughtful sound in response, his one visible eye narrowing slightly. "You never would have gotten a chance to meet your uncle Obito ... but in point of fact, if you like, a piece of him lives on in me." He chuckled at that, though there was no humor in the laugh at all.

"Why wouldn't I have known him?" Sasuke wondered. He remembered the others of his family... He'd never forget them. He wished he could - not because he didn't respect them ... but instead because being able to forget would be rejecting Itachi's last cruel gift.

He realized his fists were clenching, and forced himself to calm.

"He was on my team when I was a jounin," Kakashi sighed, his eye closing.

"Was he strong?"

"Stronger than me," Kakashi answered. "Almost strong enough." He shook his head, his eye opening as he turned to face Sasuke. "But the point of this is that I did not respect or appreciate Obito when we were placed together. I was a ninja ... I had to overcome the difficulties presented to me by the reputation of my predecessors."

Sasuke blinked; he'd never heard any of _this_ before. Shikamaru had pretty much all of the information any of them had on Kakashi, and that was thanks to his father.

"Ultimately ... I was not trusting enough of my teammates. There was a point in time where if I had trusted Obito enough, I believe we would have succeeded at the mission ... and more than myself would have survived," Kakashi sighed. "So ... by my choices, and my lack of faith in my teammates, Obito and Rin are no longer with us."

The Uchiha heir was completely bewildered by this. "Why would you tell me this?" he asked. Was he saying Sasuke needed to trust his teammates? "The mission was a success, right?"

"I don't really see it that way," Kakashi countered. "Oh, our objectives were accomplished. We might even call the mission 'complete'. But 'success'? No - not even the Yondaime could convince me of that."

"So you're saying I have to trust my teammates?" Sasuke asked doubtfully.

"I may be saying that," Kakashi agreed. "There's more to being recognized as a shinobi of Konoha than just learning jutsu and being skilled. Asuma is not lecturing you about the will of fire because he enjoys it." After a pause, he corrected himself to say, "Well, that's not the _only_ reason, at any rate."

Sasuke snorted, shaking his head. "None of this will matter when it's time to go after Itachi," he said resolutely. "I'll do my best to be a ninja of Konoha, but that's only one stepping stone on my path."

"Hmm, well, Konoha doesn't really need avengers," Kakashi mused. "And when the Hokage were to ask me why the nine rookies this year were failed, well ... it wouldn't be fair to eight other aspiring genin to say that you couldn't put Konoha first - as you swore to do before accepting your hitai-ate."

Sasuke felt his mouth dry.

"But then," Kakashi said in that same, lazy, completely absent way, "maybe it just seems like you're off to a rocky start as you and Naruto become closer friends."

The boy could only blink wordlessly in answer.

"Tell me, Sasuke, do you know what an asset allies can be?"

Sasuke shifted his shoulders and looked away. He could guess any number of answers, but he suspected Kakashi wanted to lecture, not really hear his response.

"I know what your goal is ... but allies are a form of strength, too."

"I was told to grow strong," Sasuke growled. "How is leaning on others _strength_?"

Kakashi's eyebrow rose, and he jabbed a finger into Sasuke's chest. "Listen," he said, now sounding very slightly annoyed, "Naruto is your rival. You two should try to be the friends that Obito and I weren't - and yes, we were exactly like the two of you. I thought Obito was an annoying, brash, loudmouth, and he thought I was coolly arrogant, hiding behind my family name and distant demeanor."

"Why?" Sasuke protested. If this was some stupid order... What the hell did trying to be friends with _Naruto_ of all people have to do with becoming a better ninja?

"Because you're not helping your skills by hiding from him and resenting his strength," Kakashi said, shrugging as he dropped his hands to his sides. "You keep measuring yourself against him - and find yourself wanting."

Sasuke swallowed, unable to deny that, or prevent the furious scowl that came to his face.

Kakashi seemed to smile behind his mask. "So ... challenge him. Tell him that you aspire to reach that strength," Kakashi said. "The point of a rival is that you have someone to test yourself against - and in return, he can test himself against you."

"So I have to waste time sparring with him instead of improving?" Sasuke retorted.

Kakashi's invisible smile seemed like it must have widened behind his mask. "No," he clarified. "You practice until you're better than him."

"And then ... I can take on Itachi?"

"Nope! Then, you help him get stronger than you - and do it again."

Sasuke blinked, mulling that over. Kakashi was suggesting a potentially huge investment of time with this...

"A rival helps you grow stronger?" Sasuke asked, not entirely convinced.

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Look underneath the underneath. Your allies aren't just tools - they're people, and they can share their strengths with you. But ... in order to get that ... you need to be willing to share your strength with them, too. Make sense?"

Sasuke wanted to deny him ... but then, given the weight of those threats, and the promise of new strength... "Alright," he grudgingly agreed. "How do I do it?"

Kakashi chuckled again, reaching out and - irritatingly - tousling Sasuke's hair. "That's for you to figure out!" he cheered, before he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke sat back down on the lawn instead of throwing himself at the tree again. "Rivals, huh?" he wondered, trying to get used to the idea.

* * *

After returning home from the day's training, Naruto contemplated what he had learned from two of the most interesting bunshin he had dispatched that day. Both of them related to Sakura - or at least ... her investigation.

The bunshin at the library hadn't had any new information to offer, but Sakura was strangely accepting of Naruto's presence, and had even given him a few study tips in exchange for Naruto's bunshin doing some errands for her - fetching books, mostly. After that was the more surprising response he'd gotten from the head chunin instructor at the academy, since her brother wasn't around when Naruto's bunshin stopped by to ask for more information about the mysterious 'enten-hari'.

In response, the woman had blinked slowly and remarked, "That's an interesting question ... but you know ... I shouldn't really help you out. Like I've said before, I'm only able to instruct Academy students."

Naruto had pouted, but bit his tongue at that, offering a sullen nod. Before the bunshin could disperse or leave, she thoughtfully added, "Though ... you know, you were one of Iruka-sensei's last students, weren't you?"

Naruto offered a hesitant nod in return.

"Hmm. Okay, let's make a deal here, then. Uzumaki-kun, how would you like a part-time job?"

"I have a full-time job!" Naruto protested, frowning. "I'm a genin!"

"And yet, you're here right now, aren't you?" the teacher posed.

Naruto allowed a grudging nod.

"Hmm. Okay, well ... see, I need someone who knows how well Iruka-sensei taught, right? How else can I give myself a good basis of comparison?"

Naruto started at that. "That's a strange idea," he mused.

"Hey, many years ago, I had a reputation, you know," the the redhead warned with a smirk. "I used to be the number one most surprising ninja in Konoha!"

"No way!" he couldn't keep himself from exclaiming.

"Way," she returned, nodding gravely.

"Who was it before you?" Naruto wondered.

"Oh, the Yondaime, and before him, one of the Sannin," the woman answered, waving a hand dismissively. "I doubt I could compete with the current holder of that title..." She gave him a smirk, and he couldn't help but flush with mild pride.

"Anyway," she continued, with a shrug, "if you agree to take this job, I won't be able to pay much, and I'll need you to come in to class under henge to avoid any students recognizing you ... but if you agree, then maybe we can figure out if I'm missing any of the details that Iruka would have remembered to teach. And if you've forgotten, or want to brush up on anything that you were supposed to learn in the academy, I can fill in some of the blanks for you, eh?"

He was pretty sure that there was no way he'd ever willingly go back to the academy - especially with Iruka gone. But then ... the new teacher just as much admitted that she wouldn't compare, and wanted Naruto's opinion to fix that?

Throw in the bonus of her occasionally - hopefully, at least - answering some of Naruto's questions...

"Your brother's wife is a cook, right?" Naruto wondered aloud.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I get your angle. I'll be sure to let Uc-chan know you have some credit when you drop by, since kage bunshin won't get much from eating anything."

"Oh, right," the bunshin agreed with a laugh, nodding. "Well, that sounds like an okay deal! But, you'll say what that thing I was asking about is?"

"If you succeed at your first day, yes, but there's one extra condition," the teacher warned with a grin. "I said you would have to come in under henge, right? Well ... this is your infiltration practice. The kind of thing that's covered in the academy, naturally - just a bit more difficult, since you're really a genin.

"Not just a henge - you need to learn how to develop a genuine cover, too. So, your teacher's assistant persona needs a reasonable back-story, a look that's separate from yours without being too distinctive... Well, all of this is a test to prove that you're ready to be a teacher's assistant, eh?"

"I guess ... normally only chunin are allowed to teach, so it'd take a lot of work for a genin to be allowed to do this," Naruto said slowly.

"Usually, this kind of role is given to a genin who lost teammates, leaving them unable to perform normal missions temporarily," she explained, reaching into a supply pouch and pulling out an academy handbook. "Here's your homework to find out the rest of the rules. Most infiltrations won't give you this much information, you know."

"That's okay," Naruto said eagerly. "This is gonna be _easy_!"

"Oh, really?" the woman asked, one eyebrow arching higher, her grin sharpening.

"Er... You're on my side, right?"

"I may be ... but in order to make this interesting, why not up the ante? Think you can _also_ infiltrate as a new academy student?" she wondered. "Still too easy?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and thought about it. Two bunshin at the academy all day? One would be fine, but double that...

"I don't think I'd get paid enough," he decided, shaking his head.

She chuckled, "Smart kid. So, do we have a deal?"

And then, the bunshin had agreed, running back home before dispersing, leaving Naruto alone in his room with an academy handbook, wondering why he'd gotten himself stuck with such a poor-paying job. Really, if he were to use henge and 'infiltrate' there were much better paying part-time jobs out there to send bunshin to...

Then again, since it was a bunshin instead of him, maybe it wasn't so bad?

He left a bunshin to stay up reading the handbook and working on his cover for the teacher's assistant role, then went to bed, resolved to think about it further in the morning.

* * *

Still unable to determine what the Hokage's need for Mizuki's remains had been, Shikaku found himself sitting alone in his study, brooding over what it might mean. The sandaime had offered no further information once the Ino-Shika-Cho trio accomplished their grisly mission.

He sat surrounded by his books and worn strategy maps from various conflicts in the Shinobi wars ... including one that his own father had put on the same wall, long, long ago.

He glanced up at the sight of his son ambling in from the backyard, knuckling back a yawn. "Yo," Shikamaru said disinterestedly, eyes tracking briefly to that same, most worn map.

Shifting, sitting up straighter in his seat, Shikaku returned, "Son. What's on your mind?"

He supposed he could train the boy, but it seemed he was working himself to the point of exhaustion regularly anyway - a very unexpected outcome from his graduation.

"We've been doing some training exercises with Naruto-kun, since he can make an army of disposable opponents at the snap of a finger," Shikamaru explained. "I was wondering about using some of our family land for some of our practice."

Shikaku grunted at that, nodding slowly. A surprisingly clever use of Naruto's bunshin, he supposed... "Have a seat," he said, gesturing to an empty chair.

Somewhat bemused, Shikamaru shrugged and did as he was told, taking another of the large, comfortable cushions in the room.

"Do you remember what I told you about Uzumaki?" the elder Nara wondered. "When you were young?"

Shikamaru frowned, but nodded. He'd been perceptive then, too, and asked why he had heard from some of his fellow academy students that Naruto should have been avoided. He did the obvious thing and asked his parents why. "You said that you wouldn't answer, but I should get to know him and make my own decisions," he answered.

"And, have you?"

Scowling slightly, the younger boy answered, "I'm working on that. Right now, Naruto-kun ... is a teammate. And an ally." He shook his head, turning to stare at the same strategy map again. "More than anything else ... he's a friend."

Shikaku nodded, satisfied with that answer. "Good," he decided. "But I sense that it was a question that brought you here."

Shikamaru nodded, his expression relaxing. "I just wanted to find some out-of-the-way corner of our property, so we can practice without scaring the deer or spilling into someone else's territory," he explained. "So, in order to do that, I need to get into the vault and double-check the territory claims."

Shikaku concealed his surprise and nodded with feigned disinterest. "Mmm," he mused. "I'll give you a note to get in."

"Thank you," the boy answered, looking just relieved enough to confirm Shikaku's suspicion of an ulterior motive.

After his son left the study, Shikaku set his attention on what real motivation Shikamaru would have to go into the property records vault. There wasn't much of interest there, not really. Death records were close by, but there was usually an ANBU posted, even though it was low security. Anything more than that ... well, Shikaku would be seriously alarmed if his son were able to bypass that security.

So, probably death records, then. The only reasons Shikaku could think of for that, well ... the most recent entires in that archive would be Iruka and Mizuki ... but their files hadn't actually been released from the more secure reaches of the bureaucracy yet. And, anyway, why would his son or any of his friends be interested in that?

Mulling it over, Shikaku came to an unsatisfying conclusion.

His son, like himself, wasn't content to abide a mystery - he wanted to see what was behind the mystery. And there, he'd been so irritated by everything - especially Senzo...

Shikamaru knew that Naruto held an S rank secret, and wanted to find out what it was. Shikaku allowed a grunt of irritation to escape as he folded his legs beneath him and contemplated. He was confident that his own son was smart enough that once he knew the circumstances behind Naruto, he wouldn't be that worried about it.

All the same, he couldn't _tell_ the boy ... not without violating the Hokage's orders.

He'd have liked it much more if Naruto had trusted Shikamaru enough to volunteer the information, but then, considering the last time it had been spoken of around Naruto, two chunin had died and he spent the entire night in ANBU lock-down... Unfortunately, the Uzumaki boy wasn't likely to offer that secret out, yet.

Then again, what if Shikamaru betrayed the forming trust between him and Naruto by prying as he had?

The best he could _really_ do was try and control what Shikamaru discovered. Though, by searching the death records...

He nodded slowly in thought. If Shikamaru was using all of the tools at his disposal - his allies - then... Shikaku pursed his lips as he came to a decision, then rose to his feet. Inoichi would still be awake at this hour, and Choza, too. Being able to see more of the board than Shikamaru, he could plan more effectively.


	8. Chapter 8

Motivation Chapter Eight

By Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. Some tinting is borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

Note: I see now that kawarimi and shunshin aren't considered space-time jutsu ... but then, it's obviously not on the level of whatever Minato and Madara could pull off. Eh, I'll say they're comparable, but the S-rank ninja get really complicated and significantly more bad-ass versions. It'll remain internally consistent.

* * *

Naruto's day began with an odd start, as the bunshin he'd left awake all night studying dispersed. Its memories released to him and almost blurred into his half-remembered dreams, but it was a pleasant cushion from _that_ unwelcome topic in any case.

The bunshin had handled his assignment by flipping through the handbook and thinking about the cover story he would use for his 'day job', and how he could make sure it fit with the academy regulations concerning the role. He'd spent long hours grumbling to himself and re-reading the pages. As it was, he was starting to think it might be a good idea to get more notebooks...

Earlier in the morning than he had expected, when he was nearly dozing off, he was roused by the sound of his door opening. He turned to look across the small living space in surprise until Hinata stepped in with a bag of groceries, freezing when she spotted him.

"Oh, hey!" he called, waving to her. Just the thing; he was too tired to concentrate anyway.

She relaxed slightly and closed the door behind her. "Y...you're up early!" she managed, her face coloring.

"Nah, up late," he corrected her, before explaining his situation, and the cover identity he was working on.

"Ah!" she exclaimed when he finished. "C...can I help, then?"

So, she'd listened and given her thoughts on his cover, refining his initial ideas until it was time to wake himself up.

Which was accomplished by the bunshin dispersing.

"Huh," he mused, padding out of the room to greet the cheerful Hinata (again, but that was fine), before going on to duck into the shower.

Once again his bunshin had discovered something interesting and useful. If he were in the field, leaving a bunshin up all night to watch over the camp might be boring ... but it'd mean he could rest well anyway. He nodded to himself as he turned the water on, stripping out of his pajamas. Shikamaru and Shino would probably approve, but he'd run the idea by them and see what they thought, too.

* * *

After sampling all three of the jounin assigned to teaching them, Ino had determined that Asuma was her favorite. He seemed a bit lazy, and it was just as well that she was ahead of Naruto and Sakura in meditation and thought exercises - she'd overspent her chakra practicing with Naruto's bunshin. Nothing near real exhaustion, but she'd at least groped close to her limits, which had been a good place to stop.

So she'd spent most of the day just relaxing, recovering her strength and contemplating refinements in her ability to sense the chakra of others. It was a difficult adaptation of the one clan technique she'd learned well, and it was disappointingly strenuous so far. Still, it would be _something_...

The only _real_ problem was the fact that he bought them lunch.

She'd woken up hungry and already had a larger breakfast than she would have liked; her figure was a real concern, after all. And then, without asking what they wanted, when it was time for the group of genin to eat, he'd had the waitress set down the same heaping plates of barbecued beef and vegetables that he always did.

"I don't want to eat all of this," Ino complained, shaking her head.

"Me either!" Sakura chimed in. "Isn't this too much?"

"I'll eat whatever you don't want," Naruto cheerfully volunteered.

"No, you won't, no, it isn't, and yes, you do," he answered them in reverse order, giving each of them an unamused glance. After a draw on his cigarette, he added, "You must put your ability as a ninja ahead of your appearance at this point in your training."

Sakura and Ino blinked, shooting a glance at one-another across Naruto, who was obliviously gobbling his lunch in a completely undignified manner.

Asuma reached out and sprinkled dried red peppers from a small shaker the restaurant left on every table across Naruto's plate, causing the boy to halt his eating and stare at the meal darkly. "Why'd you do that?" he complained, looking up at Asuma.

"You've abandoned enough appearance so far; you're advancing to the next level," the bearded man drawled.

The blond blinked in astonishment. Ino and Sakura exchanged another doubtful glance. "What, meditate through the burning while eating lunch?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Mmm," Asuma noised noncommittally, making a motion that may have been a slight nod, but was probably not, a slight nod.

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically, eating his meal almost as quickly as he had in the first place.

Ino rolled her eyes and pushed her water glass closer to the boy, guessing what was to happen next.

Sakura squinted at her plate with a frown. "I still don't want to eat this much!"

"Are you trying to look good, or be a ninja?"

Seeing where the argument was heading - and that Naruto was so far handling the red peppers without much trouble - Ino reluctantly continued eating.

After that, and more of Asuma's discussions, they reunited at Senzo's for their traditional meeting.

"Bets on tomorrow's groups?" Kiba asked, as soon as his team straggled in, the last to return.

"Answer unclear," Shikamaru drawled, "ask again later."

The team of Sasuke, Hinata, and Kiba had survived their trial against the dreaded Bastard-sensei, so it seemed that things on that front would calm down. Ino's main hope was that she could finally try being on a team with someone aside from Sakura - Naruto and Sasuke had gotten into a fight, and they weren't on teams together anymore.

She began to wonder if she and Sakura were to get into a fight, if the two of them...

...but no, that only worked because the jounin-sensei didn't know about the fight. It wouldn't actually help her situation at all, and anyway, she was totally winning against the other girl. After all, Sakura just spent her extra time running off to the library - the Yamanaka girl had spent her time genuinely training!

Asuma strode in and glanced across the students before declaring, "Naruto, Kiba, and Choji, you'll be with me tomorrow." He nodded at his students and left as he always did, raising a cigarette to his mouth as he vanished through the doorway.

"Hmm," Naruto mused, frowning. "Barbecue beef for lunch again tomorrow."

"Yep," Kiba and Choji chorused with matching grins. Akamaru added a pleased yip of his own.

"We should have a contest to see who can handle the most red peppers on their lunch!" Naruto exclaimed in sudden realization.

Kurenai was the next to step through the door, giving a pleasant smile to all and announcing, "If it's not too much trouble, Shino, Sasuke, and Shikamaru - you will be with me tomorrow. Take care until then!"

"Ouch," Shikamaru mused, shaking his head once the woman was gone. "That puts an all-kunoichi team up against Bastard-sensei tomorrow."

Once again appearing in a swirl of leaves and chakra smoke without the decency to foreshadow his presence, Kakashi wondered, "You're still visiting another teacher behind my back? You wound me, my cute little students!"

"Yes, I'm totally talking about some other teacher," Shikamaru drawled, looking pointedly away.

"Well, I'll have to bring training up a notch to compete with this stranger!" Kakashi mused, sounding disturbingly pleased at the prospect. "This unknown teacher will be my rival in motivating you, then!" He shrugged and crinkled his visible eye in a smile as he regarded Hinata. "But that's fine - it appears that you, Sakura-chan, and Ino-chan will be working with me tomorrow! Won't that be fun?"

Without waiting for a response, he sauntered out of the restaurant.

Kiba and Naruto unleashed simultaneous grumbling sighs.

Ino shook her head at that, tugging on Naruto's shoulder from her seat next to him, earning - for some reason - the sharp attention of Hinata, on Naruto's other side. "Hey, come on, Naruto," the blonde insisted. "Help me practice again; I'm starting to get that sensing technique down." No need to mention she hadn't gotten the slightest inkling of Kakashi's presence before he had arrived.

"I dunno," Naruto answered doubtfully. "Don't you owe me some training?"

She realized he was actually being subtle, and not _saying_ 'practice date' in front of everyone ... or had just forgotten what she had to offer in exchange. She wouldn't be surprised by that, really. "I'll pay you back after practice, since my chakra will be low then anyway," she decided.

"Alright, I'll give you a bunshin," Naruto allowed, making a gesture and producing a clone standing behind him in a relaxed pose, arms crossed behind his head.

"If," Sasuke suddenly coughed out, looking like he was struggling to swallow something particularly vile, and not meeting anyone's eyes, "you're trading techniques, Naruto... You need to improve your ranged abilities. Those bunshin are useless with only melee attacks against anyone with a reasonable short-range defense - and there are a lot of ninjutsu out there that do such things."

He nodded to Hinata, who met his gaze, unflinching. Ino froze, sucking in a breath, and everyone else subtly tensed as well, wondering if this was going to lead to another fight. Naruto had adopted a scowl, glaring at Sasuke out of the corner of his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest - his bunshin followed suit identically.

"I remember hearing once..." Sasuke trailed off and grimaced even more deeply and shook his head. "Her family has a technique like that, for example. If your bunshin can't do anything, then you have to risk damage to yourself; you could overcome that with better throwing skills ... like a wire technique. You can wear that defense down more efficiently with a good ranged spread, instead of wasting bunshin."

Naruto blinked, absorbing all of that with a slowly fading scowl that had shifted to a suspicious look. "How'd you get this?" he wondered. "Why do you think I want some ... wire technique?"

"When we fought last," he said blandly. "Your bunshin were all obliterated by my fire jutsu - you could have easily had them wait outside of range or dodge and used a cordon of tightening wires instead of sacrificing any of them."

The blond blinked again, raising his eyebrows at this.

"Where did this sudden goodwill come from?" Shikamaru wondered aloud, breaking into the conversation with a shake of his head. "Really- What prompted the change of heart, Uchiha?"

"I'm not doing this out of charity," Sasuke countered, shooting a scowl at Shikamaru. "This is a trade- I want Naruto to show me his kawarimi; he can already switch with other people, and I want to learn that as well."

Naruto looked dubious, and Shikamaru looked unconvinced. Hinata, for some reason, looked annoyed at Sasuke.

"Pragmatic," Shino commented.

Naruto considered it, then shrugged, making another bunshin. "We'll see how it goes," the new bunshin allowed.

"W-wait!" Sakura protested, shaking her head. "I- I can help! I showed Naruto those tricks with kawarimi, and-"

"This is just between the two of us," Sasuke overrode her, before Ino could throw her own protests into the mix.

Considering how he'd snapped at her last time, she decided to say nothing when the bunshin Naruto had made for him dubiously moved to follow the Uchiha heir. "You know," that bunshin remarked, "if you're going to start actually training with us more - Choji, Kiba, and I have this every-other-day thing going on for taijutsu practice."

"Hn," Sasuke noised thoughtfully, thrusting his hands into his pocket as he walked off with the bunshin at his side.

Once he was gone, Kiba barked the obvious: "Wow! That was different!"

"What matters is that he is slowly learning to put the good of the colony ahead of the worker," Shino remarked.

"I guess," Naruto allowed. "Anyone else want a bunshin before Hinata-chan and I go out for practice?"

Sakura grumbled, checking the time, then dropped some money on the table and scurried away.

Ino bit back a small smile of triumph. "Come on, Naruto," she told the bunshin she was dragging along. "You can practice your stealth while I work on my detection."

"Ah, cool!"

* * *

With supreme annoyance, Sakura realized that the familiar Naruto bunshin in the library were no longer present. She grudgingly admitted that she actually liked the presence of the other boy... And she really did want to know if he could puzzle out whatever that mysterious 'enten-hari' was.

She'd not gotten a glimpse of the chunin or jounin involved in the conversation where the name had come up since, and deduced that the jounin had gone on a mission. Possibly the chunin as well, but it sounded like he had responsibilities in or near town.

After setting up her books and study materials, she was a bit annoyed when a slight, somewhat handsome but largely unremarkable boy with dusty gray hair sat in the chair opposite hers. He was wearing a genin's headband and giving her an enthusiastic, eager grin. She frowned and glanced across his attire - generic-looking mesh shirt, a gray bandoleer filled with kunai, the general distribution of shuriken and tool pouches... But he didn't seem like anyone she knew, despite his uncomfortable nearness to her.

"What?" she asked challengingly, when their gazes had locked for a long moment.

"I know what an enten-hari is," he said, his grin widening. "You remember your promise?"

Sakura blinked several times in astonishment. "Wha- More henge practice?"

Naruto shook his head, his smile widening even further as he dropped his voice to the lowest possible whisper. "I'm doing infiltration training - but this is part of my cover. It's actually pretty cool," he explained, waggling his eyebrows.

The pink haired girl shook her head several times at that, a little jarred by the familiarity - and more obvious differences - between Naruto and this new henge. "I... Alright, let's hear what these things are?" she asked.

"So - an enten-hari is a kind of throwing needle, except it's super-dangerous to use," Naruto offered.

"Is that all?" Sakura wondered, mystified, even as she turned to a fresh sheet of paper, prepared to take further notes.

The boy shook his head, leaning even closer and keeping his voice low. "It's supposed to be kind of cone shaped, I guess - it takes a kind of explosive tag that releases slowly. They call it a 'blaze' tag, or something like that... So instead of a big bang, it does a smaller thing that makes the needle shoot out like, super, _super_ fast!

"So, it was made by some ninja in Tetsu no Kuni, long ago."

"There are no ninja in the Land of Iron," Sakura protested, shaking her head, scribbling notes.

Naruto shrugged, continuing, "Anyway, these needles could punch through even samurai armor, but if they were handled wrong, they could explode, or turn backward, and a bunch of other stuff. It's supposed to be a super-rare and way dangerous weapon to use!" He nodded in satisfaction and leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, did I get it right?"

She realized that he thought she knew, so reluctantly nodded. "That matches everything I know about them," she agreed. "Except for the Land of Iron part, anyway... Well, you did figure it out... How did you, by the way?"

"I asked the..." The bunshin's bright smiled faded to a grimace. "I asked Iruka-sensei's replacement. She's ... actually kind of alright."

Sakura blinked, uncomfortable about that reminder. Well ... she could probably put off trying to meet that person just yet. "Okay. So ... what is it you needed help learning at the moment, anyway?"

"Math," he sighed, shaking his head.

She blinked at him in ... not quite disbelief, at that point. He'd said and done enough weird things with his bunshin lately. "Math?" she wondered.

"I've noticed that people who are good at math tend to have really good chakra manipulation," he explained, shrugging. "And when people try and tell me about other techniques and stuff, numbers almost always come up." He nodded sagely at that, as though he had uttered words of true wisdom.

She couldn't honestly fathom why he was interested in learning math, of all things, but if that was what he wanted, well ... she was good enough at it that it wouldn't take real effort. "Okay," she allowed. "That's fair." She didn't know where to begin, though...

"So ... the head chunin instructor said that math wasn't her strongest point, either, but this is about my level," the henge-ed boy added, handing her a teacher's guide for math.

She frowned slightly, accepting it. Well ... she had nothing to complain about here; he knew what he needed and where to start. That was ... starting to actually be kind of admirable, even if his level were so basic it was kind of pathetic. It was first year academy stuff. "Okay," she agreed. "Um ... start at the beginning, I guess?"

He nodded eagerly, as she cracked the book open and went to the first lesson.

"So ... let's see..."

* * *

Sasuke wasn't completely convinced by Kakashi's speech about Naruto being a 'rival'. The theory was sound, and if it was a way to satisfy the teachers, so be it- As little as he liked to admit it, Naruto _had_ demonstrated himself to be powerful. He had some skills, too, even if they were crude and unrefined, mostly.

But it didn't hurt to give Kakashi's approach a reasonable try. If he could get some skills off Naruto he wouldn't have developed on his own as quickly, so much the better. Spending time teaching something in exchange wasn't ideal, but if he was lucky, Naruto would be a fast enough learner he wouldn't waste _much_ time.

So that thought in mind, he led the _copy_ of Naruto - not the real Naruto - to the Uchiha private training ground. He did put work into maintaining it, after all. "Alright," Sasuke said, breaking the silence once they had reached a clearing with a good number of targets set up.

Naruto eyed the targets. "Throwing practice?" he asked doubtfully.

"Stand over there," Sasuke dismissed, gesturing to one side. "Watch."

The bunshin snorted and walked over to lean against a tree, crossing his arms over his chest and watching Sasuke expectantly.

"Wire techniques are especially useful if you have a fire affinity," Sasuke explained, readying a shuriken on a wire. "You can have your chakra flow down the cable, and then follow that pattern."

"And?"

"And it lets you curve your technique more easily," Sasuke demonstrated, throwing the star out and guiding it with the wire - weaving between two trees before slamming into a target- Very slightly off center. Within the middle _ring_, but Sasuke grimaced internally. He could do better than that...

Naruto's bunshin was suitably impressed. "So you can get around defenses with that?" he wondered.

"Or try to entangle someone who is concerned about the shuriken, and not the wire," Sasuke agreed, pleased that Naruto picked that part up easily enough. He tugged on the wire and had the star weave back before catching it and holding it out to Naruto. "Do you even have any wire?"

"Of course!" the bunshin exclaimed, digging in a pouch and pulling out a spool.

Really? He just left it in a spool? He didn't have the foresight to... Well, whatever.

"That gauge of wire is a bit heavy," Sasuke judged. "Good for starting out, but very easy for an enemy to see. As you get better, you'll want to switch to lighter wires. But before we even get to _wires_, how can you handle normal throwing?"

Naruto snorted, flinging a trio of kunai at the same target Sasuke had struck. They all hit, though none any closer to perfect center than Sasuke's. "How about that?" Naruto asked, mildly prideful.

"That would pass Academy tests," Sasuke allowed.

"What, you can do better?"

Giving a slight nod, Sasuke threw a single kunai, planting it directly in the center of Naruto's - which then puffed into chakra. "How often in the ninja world is 'close' actually 'enough'?" he asked, unable to keep a satisfied grin from forming.

The bunshin stared at the target for a moment before humming thoughtfully, crossing arms behind his head. "Make every shot count, right?" he asked.

"As though it were the last," Sasuke agreed, a bit surprised that Naruto grasped that without throwing a fit. He'd thought he'd tease the other boy a bit.

"I could probably throw enough kunai it wouldn't make a difference. Between all the bunshin I'd pull out, a few would be more than 'close' and actually be 'enough'. But ... Shino's always saying that the trick is to do more with less. So, let me guess - I have to get more accurate with throwing before I'm ready for wire work?"

Actually, Sasuke was certain Naruto would be able to start on the _basics_ right away. "You don't have to, but no one else is a worthwhile challenge in accuracy, except for Sakura and Hinata. One of those is slow, and the other is too timid to throw half the time."

"You keep a close eye on your teammates?" Naruto asked, looking very thoughtful.

"If I know where my teammates are weak, I know where I have to be strong," he returned flatly.

Naruto nodded at that, smirking. "That makes perfect sense," he agreed, shrugging. "I'm also trying to figure out where my allies have holes in their abilities, so I can help them out! I use it a lot when we do our training exercises - those are kinda fun!"

Sasuke blinked slowly. What was the point in telling someone where they were making mistakes? Usually they just got annoyed... Someone who cared enough to fix those problems - those were people he'd like to work with. Sakura and Ino just got defensive and tried to come up with excuses. Or they'd ask him to train with them, where he had nothing to gain from the exercise.

...maybe Naruto could be a bit different. "Alright, so you'll help me out with the wires, and I'll tell you what I know about kawarimi," Naruto declared. "Sure - the boss will agree to that!"

Boss? Sasuke shook his head - that must be what the clones called the real Naruto. Strange idea. "Right," he agreed.

"Okay! I'll give you my tips, and then you can try it a few times- Once you need to catch your breath a bit, you can help me out with throwing!" the bunshin declared.

Sasuke nodded. Maybe... Maybe Kakashi had really been on to something. Someone he could compete against that wasn't an obstacle on his path to find his brother? This was something he might be able to get behind after all!

* * *

"Huh," Anko mused, watching Naruto's bunshin and Sasuke practice throwing. This was while Sasuke was recovering from practicing his kawarimi against Naruto - as amusing as it was to watch the blond boy laugh at his dark-haired counterpart.

That, in turn, just goaded him to try harder, and shortly after that, it had turned into Naruto grudgingly discussing the finer points, before Sasuke called for a break to demonstrate a few different throwing techniques.

She had honestly expected the bunshin to dismiss itself out of annoyance, or Sasuke to lose his temper and do it himself.

Instead, they were working together.

"How'd you pull that one off, exactly?" she finally relented, turning to the one-eyed ninja at her side.

From behind the simple genjutsu he had set up to shield them, the man shrugged, explaining, "Truly, it's a lesson I learned from you ... or at least, from chapter seventeen."

She shorted, shaking her head. She doubted she'd get a clearer answer from him until she could drag him into her bed again. "Time to meet with the others?" she wondered, changing the subject.

"It seems we can report positive progress on all fronts," he agreed.

"Senzo's?"

"May as well!" She slipped through the twilight along the rooftops, arriving at the front door to the genin's normal meeting place at the same time as Kakashi. How had he notified the others, then? Probably kage bunshin, she decided, glancing around and spotting Asuma and Kurenai approaching together.

Very shortly, the quartet were seated at a booth in the corner. "Thoughts?" Asuma asked, taking the teapot and pouring a cup of tea for everyone, as soon as the elderly proprietor had brought them the tray.

"Sakura and Ino are cooling toward one-another," Kurenai said with a frown. "Well, you would have seen them last, Asuma. I'd rather they were actually getting along as friends instead of just tolerating one-another, though."

Asuma nodded, frowning. "And the other pair that doesn't get along?" he prompted Kakashi.

"Training together on their own initiative, last I checked," the one-eyed ninja answered lazily, swirling the half-empty teacup before him thoughtfully. At the stares he received from the other jounin, he admitted, "I gave Sasuke a little nudge in terms of considering Naruto a rival instead of an enemy. It'll put him on the path to work with rather than against his colleagues."

"Hmm, I'm not sure that's an option for Sakura and Ino," Kurenai mused, frowning. "Though, it _is_ good that they're getting along..."

"Or just pretending to," Anko noted.

Ignoring her, Kurenai continued, "I don't think that approach would work with Ino and Sakura, though. Ino's techniques are a blood limit, so she couldn't teach them to Sakura, and Sakura doesn't really have anything that Ino doesn't to offer in exchange anyway. I don't see Hinata having much bearing on either of them, honestly."

"What, using her as leverage against the other two?" Anko mused. "Let them see that she's the obedient and loyal kunoichi - an example they should aspire to?"

"Asuma, since you have them first, what's your plan?" Kakashi asked, before Kurenai could do more than give Anko a flat stare.

"Awareness training," the large man decided, pausing as their orders were brought out. Not that anyone would be able to overhear them anyway. Between the bearded man's wind, and Kurenai's genjutsu, only the wait staff could even _notice_ them.

"That puts emphasis on Hinata primarily, and Ino second," Kakashi mused. "So that will probably leave Sakura feeling like the weak link. When they come up against me for practicals the next day, Hinata's going to shine again."

"Setting aside the risk of her being some specific teacher's favorite student, what's wrong with letting her show up two kunoichi who need to step up?" Anko asked, lifting a skewer of shrimp from the plate before her and biting one off.

Asuma looked thoughtful. "If we do that, we drive Sakura to look for another venue of training. As far as _I_ can tell, once she finishes with the others here, she runs off to the library," he mused.

Kurenai leaned back, staring at her bowl of soup. "Study isn't the worst habit, but I'm starting to agree that she needs more practicals," she agreed. "Ino's blood limit gives her an excuse on that front, but what else is there?"

"Medical-nin?" Anko ventured, brows furrowing together.

"There really isn't enough time for that," Asuma countered, shaking his head.

"Actually ... that's a possibility," Kurenai mused. "Sakura has excellent chakra control, but her reserves aren't that great. She wouldn't be able to pick up much of use before the chunin exams, but that would be a venue of study that she could use as an anchor-point for confidence building."

"And it wouldn't be that bad to have at least one medic out of nine genin," Kakashi agreed, nodding. "Even if she can't pick up real techniques, there's a lot of practical first-aid knowledge that doesn't require chakra manipulation. The way she studies, she'd probably soak that up like a sponge. Hmm... I think I see it, Asuma. Seem like a plan?"

"What?" Anko and Kurenai asked together, both of them shooting the male ninja annoyed looks. Kurenai and Anko had had bonding experiences, of a sort. When had Kakashi and Asuma gotten that? Absolutely, Anko was going to pick on Kakashi for this in return somehow!

"Kakashi's testing focuses on sensors and awareness in general," Asuma explained. "This benefits Hinata and Ino, with Sakura feeling left behind."

"They come to your session the next day," Kakashi continued, nodding to Kurenai, "and when Sakura's down, you point out the possibility of medical training."

"...and I can just happen to have the title of a book and some basic exercises to get her started," Kurenai completed.

"Doesn't quite get around to having Sakura and Ino getting along, though," Anko countered. "And if you haven't missed it, the Chibikage's got training programs of all kinds going off anyway. Sakura getting medical training isn't a bad idea-"

"Of course not, you offered it yourself," Kurenai interjected dryly.

"-but it and being a sensor are actually related in terms of both being connected to excellent chakra control. Throw in Hinata's blood limit... Have you heard of a Hyuuga medical-nin that _wasn't_ amazing?"

Asuma crossed his arms over his chest, done with his yakisoba already.

"We keep circling back to the same point," Kakashi mused. "What does Sakura have that no one else does? She's great at math. Her memory and ability to study are excellent. And...?"

Anko spread her hands in a shrug when Kurenai gave her an expectant shrug. "I'm just pointing out a hole in the plan," she said defensively. "I don't actually have a solution to the problem."

Heaving a sigh, Kakashi shook his head. "After this training cycle, let's give them another day off and look into other options," he declared. "That's also around the time we should consider D ranked missions, anyway."

"What other options?" Kurenai asked doubtfully.

"We must look without," Asuma said slowly, nodding. "Have them practice alongside others, see how they work as teams and learn from their example."

"I don't have a better idea," Kakashi admitted. "Alright- That sounds reasonable to me."

"Alright," Kurenai sighed, shaking her head. "For the time being ... neither do I."

"Then we'll meet up again tomorrow," Asuma determined, rising from the table and pausing to leave enough to cover the entire check.

"Tomorrow," Kurenai agreed, sounding less than pleased about the idea.

* * *

After another intense evening of practicing with Hinata - and he was starting to learn how to block better, thanks to her - Naruto trudged tiredly toward the small okonomiyaki place where he had his practice dates with her. The last few bunshin he'd left scattered around were dispersing, reporting what they had learned for the day.

An evening practicing throwing with Sasuke - that wasn't too bad. Better accuracy wasn't going to hurt. Practicing with Ino didn't give him anything, but she was paying him back with the practice dates, so that was okay. Hanging out with Shikamaru and Shino, he'd been able to show them the finer points of kawarimi, though he was surprised to realize how much more practice than them he'd gotten with it.

Come to think of it, he could take some of what he'd run into trying to explain it to Sasuke, too, and help them out better the next time.

Other than that, Sakura was surprisingly patient, and after a few false starts had managed to help him get started on improving his math skills- She'd _also_ given him a host of study tips in general, which didn't hurt in the slightest! He had to be sure to stay on her good side, though, so he could keep learning more!

It looked like 'math' in general was going to be something tricky, and it probably wasn't something he could just throw more bunshin at. Though ... there was probably no real reason he couldn't always have a bunshin working on it in general, was there?

The bunshin he'd left to hang out with Kiba and Choji hadn't had a chance to participate in the training, but hanging out with his friends was cool anyway.

The bunshin he'd sent out with Ino dispersed just before he and Hinata reached the okonomiyaki shop. They paused, seeing the familiar pigtailed man taking down his wife's curtain, indicating they were closing.

He eyed them, then looked over his shoulder and shrugged, gesturing them in. "Come on, then," he said dryly. "You'll be the last customers for the evening."

The expecting woman behind the grill gave him a sharp look, but it faded when Naruto and Hinata cautiously stepped through the doorway. "Well, for you two, I don't mind so much," she allowed, winking. "Alright, sugar," she said, addressing Hinata first, with a glowing smile, "what will you have?"

"Ah," Hinata started. "Um ... the grilled pork is very good; could I have one of those, please?" she asked, ducking her head slightly as she wobbled to a seat and nearly collapsed.

"Training to your limit, huh?" the pigtailed man asked, shaking his head as he moved around them, closing up the rest of the shop.

"Y...yes," Hinata agreed sheepishly.

"Seafood special for me," Naruto declared. "Oh, hey, Hinata, I forgot to introduce you last time! This guy's named Kuonji - his sister is teaching at the Academy, now..." It was _still_ hard to think of that Iruka shaped gap. That redheaded teacher didn't quite fill it, and neither did her brother - even if they were pretty cool in their own ways. Shaking his head, he continued, "You know, she used to have the title for number one most surprising ninja in Konoha?"

The man smirked for some reason, while his wife poured a quartet of okonomiyaki and rolled her eyes. "You two are here on another 'practice' date, huh?" she asked.

"Ah, yeah!" Naruto agreed, nodding, which prompted Hinata's face to redden. She must be sitting a bit too close to the grill; it seemed pretty warm!

"Don't you worry," the chef assured Hinata with a wide grin. "At this rate he'll treat you right once it's time for the real thing!"

Naruto blinked. Him, ask Hinata on a _real_ date? He opened his mouth to correct the woman when he caught the frantic head-shaking of Kuonji.

Hinata turned to give him a curious look, but by that time the pigtailed man had appeared to be just bringing in the last of the signs from the street - and blood limit or not, Hinata had seemed too distracted to catch it.

"Er, yeah," Naruto finished a bit lamely. He was just going to say that he didn't _really_ think about dating Hinata - they were just awesome friends! Had Kuonji guessed what he was going to say? Or did he think Naruto was going to say something tactless?

Maybe there was something else to it. He didn't like the idea of letting it go, so chewed the thought over while waiting for his okonomiyaki. Ino kept reminding him that part of dating _did_ mean remaining tactful at all times.

"Of course," the chef mused, "even though there were some pretty unlikely obstacles, I was in an arranged-"

"Ucchan," the man overrode her with a pained wince.

"Oh, fine," the woman relented, sticking her tongue out at her husband. Turning back to Naruto and Hinata, she continued, "He doesn't like to go over that bit of ancient history. Anyway, even if you are a bit young, you're a cute couple- Now, order up! I know you can burn through a lot when you train hard, so the extras are on the house!" That said, she parceled out their orders, beaming a bright smile to the pair of them, and pouring another quartet for herself and her husband.

For his part, the man took the last seat he hadn't already stowed, a short distance away from Naruto. At a glance, Kuonji was just flipping through a bingo book. He wanted to ask about it, but had a suspicion that if he did, it'd just get put away.

Instead, since he wasn't sure what else to do, he turned his attention to Hinata. "I've been working on my math," he said proudly. "Hopefully we can change up our training routine in a few days!"

"That'll be great!" Hinata said happily. "I can't wait to teach you- Um- New things!"

...of course, the man at the counter was a ninja. Though his eyes didn't leave the bingo book, one eyebrow climbed slightly higher. Better to be careful!

"Well, you two are always welcome to grab a bite here after training," the chef encouraged them, smiling. "If I'm not here, my husband and," for some reason, she paused to snicker, while Kuonji looked pained, for some reason, "his _sister_ can both make okonomiyaki, too!"

"Thank you very much!" Hinata declared, setting down her chopsticks and bowing her head politely.

"Yeah!" Naruto echoed. Well, Hinata had her family, and he didn't have one. The closest thing was Iruka, but somehow ... his friends were really filling the gap. Did it _matter_ if he had no family, if he had close friends and allies? Hell, if he kept up with Shikamaru and Shino's advice, it was possible even Sasuke could be less of a jerk!

And in the meantime, Kuonji and his family seemed really friendly, too.

All things considered, things were pretty good! Not as great as they'd be if Iruka were still there ... but pretty good.

* * *

The Hokage clenched the stem of his pipe between his teeth and puffed thoughtfully, peering into the depths of his crystal ball. He would have liked to be spending more time spying on his most promising group of young genin ... and, perhaps, if any of them were left to only _one_ teacher, he would have. Even his own family wouldn't be immune to that scrutiny, if it were to happen.

Sarutobi Asuma was powerful, accomplished, wise ... and because of his personal history, sometimes just a bit too lazy. Kakashi announced scars he didn't really have to bear by masking his face and eye, frequently shying from responsibility that he couldn't accept behind an anonymous ANBU mask. It pained him to admit that Anko was supremely right in what Kurenai had related to him.

The bell test...

Oh, it _had_ been his test. But Sarutobi had meant it as an object lesson. Students that failed the bell test were _told_ they needed to be a team, not simply failed and forgotten...

Even so, he thought Anko had missed the point of it, as well - that test had nothing to do with Orochimaru's flaws... In fact, it was more of a test of intelligence - or courage. Enough of _either_ would have sufficed. Tsunade had been brave enough to risk his wrath to give Jiraya some of her food. Orochimaru had been smart - believing that if they stuck together, their punishment would be minimized.

Both were right.

And _that_ thought... It reminded him of the main reason he was focusing so hard on his current work. He'd spent what precious time he usually would have invested with the jounin teachers crafting a new seal. Painstakingly, and unashamedly strengthening the ink with blood. Some of it was his own.

Ah ... that it had come to that.

It wasn't what he wanted to be thinking. Looking at the seal, he knew in a flash that his student - though he would never say it before Tsunade - his _best_ living student would look at the seal and give a sympathetic, supportive smile.

Hell, seals were _hard_. There was a reason that Uzushio... Uzushiogakure, properly. It hadn't been destroyed by armies of ninja by _chance_.

The raw irony over the base of his own seal education was palpable. The yondaime had learned _of_ seals from his sensei, Jiraya. But in truth, he had been taught true mastery by his wife. For all of his other gifts and his amazing deeds ... the yondaime was not truly as skilled as Kushina. Now _she_ was a master; it had been innate, in her blood. She'd taught everything she knew to the yondaime...

And the yondaime, having an unreasonable sense of fairness, turned around and taught as much as _he_ understood to Jiraya. Sarutobi remembered the sannin relating the story well - the legendary Toad Sage, who had been so foolish (and brave) as to attempt a summoning jutsu without a summoning contract. Jiraya, who had first watched his own favorite, and best student with tears of pride and joy...

Oh, but those were different days.

So long ago - like the wars, and certain other losses, they cut so deep, though. How could he not remember?

Jiraya had spent months after the yondaime's death studying Naruto, desperate to find new, deeper insights into his own student's seal-work. Trying to understand ... what Minato had done to his son.

And the sannin finally bemoaned the fact that he was not his student's equal and gave up on trying to completely unravel the mystery. Only after that did he pass on some of what _he_ knew of seals to his own sensei - Sarutobi.

It was such a sad, pale shadow... If his own student would look at the seal and give him a smile and a sympathetic nod, surely the yondaime would have to laugh at such an attempt. And then, a shadow's shadow ... because _his_ teacher would look down even further.

He felt a sad certainty she would only look upon what he had accomplished so far with disappointment.

Enough - he reprimanded himself. The pain had to be real, just like the blood - but that was enough - the seal would work ... or it wouldn't.

He shifted his shoulders wearily, wishing the years didn't bear on him quite so much, and placing the crystal ball on the table, in the center of the seal array. "Who?" he demanded quietly, staring into the crystal. "Who prompted Mizuki?"

- he fell, then, as he knew he would. Drawn into the inherent pain and blood-desire of the seal, projected through the lens of the crystal -

He saw the painful moments that Mizuki endured. _Felt_ the dead chunin's rage over his circumstances... Wrath for Iruka replayed in his mind, but the Hokage stilled himself, hardening his mind and his heart.

No - too neat. He didn't believe it.

He peeled back the genjutsu that had become innately entangled somewhere upon Mizuki ... some sort of deceptive art concealing the truth; embedded in the man's own mind and imprinted firmly upon his death. The scenes replayed again, this time the impact less harsh...

A misdirection. So the root cause was as it looked, and yet ... something happened to warp the man's perception? Possibly - there had to be _some_ link, though, through blood or deeper...

Ignoring the pain building between his temples - the slowly building, throbbing ache of straining himself so hard in this way - he pushed further, probed deeper.

_There_ - a transaction of some sort. In the days before graduation of the academy - an ... an eye, a single glaring, sharingan eye.

The Hokage felt his heart literally stop for a space at the possibility of Kakashi as traitor. No ... not even the yondaime's student?

But no - it was the wrong eye. The _other_ eye, and an instant after it was revealed, something metal- a binding- he was too deep, had to get out- "For the village..."

- flash of an ... arm? No, no, arms don't have staring sharingan eyes... - the seal - there had been a counter-seal! Only another seal-master could try to- "Only the village's greatest servant could break this seal."

- screaming in pain as his tongue was pierced with hooks, stretched out, and then marked with an agonizing, soul-searing seal-

- too far, too far, the cost - how was he ever to make it back from this? He had to - No, he had to dig _deeper_. He'd never get out on his own, not now. But if he were to get out- "No time for games!"

- the voice had been worried, though; he knew he was closer. Even if he was to die, he would spite whatever was left in the seal in Mizuki's blood. What were the words that had started this off? How had it begun? - "Iruka, the boy's link to stability; destroy him; crush the boy's will. Once he is-"

- Tenzo kneeling above him, a tree where his seal and crystal ball - and indeed, most of the desk had been. The strange, foreign power he'd inadvertently made himself vulnerable to was gone, contained entirely within the wood-shaper's control.

The night air was remarkably still, despite the presence of a several-meter-wide tree where half of his office had been. A stray passing breeze ruffled the low-branches that ran parallel to the ceiling. Before Sarutobi could even speak, Yamanaka Inoichi and Nara Shikaku appeared on either side of his ruined desk, and a distant alarm sounded in the village. Shikaku was pulling his chunin flak vest on still, he'd arrived so hastily.

Why was he just lying there and observing, though? He was the Hokage - the sandaime! He needed to warn them, to tell them-

Not only couldn't he move, he still couldn't _speak_! Tenzo made some hand-seals, then an absent gesture, flinging his ANBU mask away before leaning close and beginning chest-compressions. After three of those, Sarutobi's chief ANBU officer gave an annoyed shake of his head and breathed in - then leaning close and giving the Hokage the breath of life.

Embarrassingly to the sandaime, it took almost a full minute for his lungs to resume working properly, and then his heartbeat was still irregular, erratic. The jounin commander and his friend had already closed the office's blinds, but none of his subordinates would let him rise from the floor on his own. He could only imagine a great tree emerging from the top of the Hokage tower, roots down and wound through the archives...

"ANBU," he gasped out.

Tenzo nodded, a look of confusion on his face.

"Ibiki," Sarutobi added, bemoaning the effort it took.

Shikaku blinked a few times, then narrowed his eyes. "Not a request for help - this incident concerns the ANBU medic with Ibiki?" he pressed, frowning. "Hokage-sama, please blink twice for yes, and three times for no. You want us to understand something before we summon assistance?"

He blinked twice in answer.

Tenzo pulled a bottle of something from his belt pouch and soaked a clean handkerchief in it, dribbling whatever it was - some bitter-tasting medicine the man was evidently carrying around - through Sarutobi's lips.

"He concealed the existence of a seal or some other trap?" Shikaku suggested.

Two more blinks.

Inoichi and Shikaku both turned grim and exchanged a nod. Neither had authority over Tenzo - or indeed, even reacted to the man's presence. It was automatically implicit by the situation that Tenzo would be at Sarutobi's side until more allies had been established. Sarutobi was glad for a moment, allowing himself to slightly relax. He was in the best possible hands, for now...

Unless Jiraya and Tsunade could somehow be convinced to return, giving their combined wisdom on seals and healing.

"I can fetch Ibiki - Hokage-sama, at the risk of overstepping our bounds, I think it would be most productive if you were to let Ino here handle communications for the moment," Shikaku warned.

Sarutobi stared for a long minute, then grudgingly allowed two blinks. Shikaku used shunshin to vanish as quickly as he arrived, while Inoichi knelt at the Hokage's side, placing fingertips gently on the Hokage's temples.

The sandaime had familiarity with such abilities before ... but he was weak. Had Inoichi contemplated a coup, it would have been simple for him to delve for any secret he wanted. But the Hokage believed - _had_ to believe - that his handpicked best carried - and were carried by - by the will of fire.

The Yamanaka elder's mind touched against his gently, barely even close enough for contact. "Hokage-sama," Inoichi said, echoing the speech with a slight inclination of his head.

The Hokage pushed everything he had gleaned from his accidental study - and, shamelessly, even his poor seal-work through to Inoichi. Oh, the pain, that - that he kept for himself. But the circumstances behind the seal needed to be shared.

Inoichi gently pulled his hands away - but the mental link remained in place. He gave Tenzo a nod, explaining before Shikaku returned, "A man with a single sharingan eye is behind this plot and ... and something else - something worse."

Tenzo stared, unblinking.

"Not Kakashi," Inoichi added, shaking his head sharply.

Tenzo nodded grimly, a sudden warp of wood causing his mask to roll across the floor and to his fingertips before he put it back on. A heartbeat after that, Shikaku stepped in through the door, Ibiki in tow.

The torturer paused, freezing to see the Hokage, still lying on the floor and being tended by an unfamiliar ANBU. Then he froze in a completely different manner, perfectly mimicking Shikaku's stance and posture. He showed no sign of struggling to resist, only mild curiosity - and grave concern.

"Stick his tongue out," Inoichi said, drawing close and pulling some of the torturer's tools from his pocket.

"The face and vocal chords," Shikaku began, before Ibiki began saying the exact same thing in time with him, "are tricky. Give me a moment to make sure I have everything so you don't- Okay."

Ibiki's expression even had turned to completely mimic Shikaku's intent concentration, as both men stuck their tongues out as far as possible, Shikaku a few steps behind the torturer.

"No obvious sign," Inoichi remarked, using a tongue depressor he'd found in Ibiki's pockets to push the torturer's tongue every way. The fair-haired man spent a minute thinking, then declared, "If there is a seal on his tongue, it surpasses my ability to detect."

He glanced to the Hokage.

"Stage two?" he asked.

Sarutobi would have grimly nodded if he could. Instead, even though Inoichi was still aware of his thoughts - and doing exactly as Sarutobi wished - he blinked twice.

Inoichi nodded acceptance, then disengaged from the Hokage's mind, turning the full weight of his focus on Ibiki. The torturer's eyes unfocused and became very distant; his jaw went slack, even in Shikaku's control, and he began to drool. Shikaku's technique ran out, but before then he caused Ibiki's body to kneel, while visible - yet colorless - curls of chakra flared around Inoichi's hand. The elder Yamanaka turned his head very slightly from side-to-side, as though probing for something difficult to find.

"He is legitimate and loyal," Inoichi announced stiffly, frowning. After a moment, he raised his hand to his head and added in an aside, "I respect your privacy, but if you don't mind we'd like to borrow your interrogation techniques for a bit."

His eyes refocusing, and allowed to speak on his own for the first time since arriving, Ibiki agreed, "Understood."

Shikaku nodded grimly. "Danzo is undoubtedly going to be here soon in response to the alarms. Hokage-sama, do you think we can put on a good show...?"

"We'll dismiss them, and then go after that medical ANBU," Inoichi announced, checking the Hokage again - and once more restraining himself to the most polite and distant of scans. "Shika, the Hokage wants you to hide - very, very well - and use your shadows to animate him. He didn't mention it, but if we're in for a long night, we'll want Cho in on it."

Shikaku blinked at that, then nodded. Tenzo folded one hand in seals and caused the tree to warp away, folding back into the walls and floors of the room, revealing a remarkably intact desk, no sign of the seal, and a crushed crystal sphere. Inoichi added, at Sarutobi's behest, "This ANBU goes by 'Tenzo' and is supremely trusted by the Hokage."

The jounin commander accepted that without hesitation, expertly folding and contorting himself into a tiny space that Tenzo made in one wall - shaping the wood with more of his hereditary jutsu. Senju's blood ... roused by something - the same key that had allowed him to escape the seal, unless he missed his guess.

In short order, the Hokage's body was back in place, supported first by Tenzo's cautious grip, then the binding shadows, settling then further into the chair. He knew it was incredibly difficult for Shikaku to hold himself still and simultaneously move someone else's body, but he needed very little help here, with any luck.

Subtly, Tenzo sank into the floor beneath the hokage's desk, reshaping the chair to more capably support his ailing body. An afterthought tossed the Hokage's forgotten pipe into the air, and a stray tendril of shadow picked it up, setting it on the desk - seemingly within easy reach.

That seal...

Whoever was behind that, they were powerful. His first, heart-stopping thought was the most obvious. Sharingan eyes ... on an arm? What kind of person would do such a thing? Who would develop the medical arts that could make such a thing possible?

More importantly ... Sarutobi had known that intent. He couldn't identify it, precisely, but he knew beyond a doubt it was something he had felt before.

And then ... who knew seals? Who coveted the power of Senju? The power of the Sharingan?

There was one easy answer.

Inoichi's face paled as the thought crossed the Hokage's mind and into the mentalist's.

Before the first council representative arrived to investigate the wood-shaping in the Hokage's tower, the fair-haired man uttered the name, causing an entirely new degree of stillness in all present - even the hidden Shikaku:

"Orochimaru."

* * *

Choza woke up to his least-favorite sensation in the world. Inoichi's purposeful yet - as much as it could be said - polite mental 'knock' rousing him from deep sleep.

He was on his feet, struggling into his emergency combat gear, half-dressed before he snapped to complete awareness. He bit off a curse, hurriedly dressing, skipping his heavier armor for the moment and using his least-favorite technique - shunshin - to respond more swiftly.

It took some running thanks to the defensive seals that were up to actually reach the Hokage's office. By that time, any irritation he had was gone, replaced with significantly more urgent concern. He burst into the hallway of the Hokage's office with just enough time to try and look casual, as councilors Koharu and Homura, as well as the venerable Danzo, and the heads of the Hyuuga and Aburame clans walked out of the office. The group all stepped into the hallway, looking for the most-part placated.

Choza admitted to himself that he wasn't the most brilliant reader of character - that was a job he left to his allies. He provided weight to the group, and was glad that when push came to shove, he could rise to the occasion as well as them. So he didn't even try to give anything away by searching them too hard. Instead he gave them the polite, respectful nods they deserved, until they'd gone past, and he could casually stroll into the Hokage's office.

The second he was inside, the doors casually, slowly creaked shut. And the instant that was done, Choza searched around the room warily. The Hokage, looking incredibly worn, slumped back in his chair, his eyes dimmed.

A wooden panel folded away, a heartbeat later Shikaku undergoing some of his unnerving contortions and slipping out of the cramped space with a wince. Inoichi stood in the open, at one side of the desk, and a heartbeat later an unfamiliar masked ANBU and the scarred face of Ibiki emerged from an opposite wall.

The ANBU hovered over the Hokage protectively, and Choza guessed it was for good reason.

"It's like this," Shikaku began without preamble, his brow furrowed, "we have to get the ANBU medic that conducted Mizuki's autopsy here and question him. Tenzo - as the most senior ranking ANBU member, it would be best if you were to order him here with the utmost urgency to tend to the Hokage's wounds."

Tenzo - the ANBU hesitated, then his masked face nodded and he vanished. Without hesitation, the leader of the trio turned to Choza. "Once he arrives, it's standard formation." Turning slightly to Ibiki, he added, "You do your job; Inoichi will work 'in the background' so to speak; you can compare notes with the Hokage after we're done, if we find the seal."

Setting his jaw, Choza nodded, understanding his duty well enough. He had to pacify an ANBU medic.

Okay, this was going to be a bit different. He thought about how his hands should grow. ANBU medic ... possibly poisons. Probably lots of sharp cutting abilities with chakra. Right - body enlargement with a thick, ropey core of muscle layered in segregated bands of fat. Lots and lots of chakra-bloated fat. He could just as easily squeeze the man if he had to, and _that_ was body-mass he could afford to burn - or cut off, if required.

Wouldn't be the first time.

The Akimichi had a well-earned reputation for sturdiness, and if Shikaku had to save his strength for more tactical use, well - he might not be able to spend as much on the pacification effort. But between the two of them, they'd always have enough brain and muscle to get through things - especially with Inoichi's awareness backing them up.

He hoped that whatever the hell else was going on, his son would find a group he could work with as closely as he did with his allies - his friends.

Then the time to stand around and distract himself passed; the door opened without a knock, Tenzo returning, leading another unfamiliar ANBU - the medic, evidently. Same mask as any other ANBU, but with a red salmon across one cheek.

The door shut behind him, and the medic stiffened- He flipped out of the way of Shikamaru's flicking shadow - right into a chakra-enlarged palm that wrapped around him, clenching tight, bulging folds of flesh conforming to him and squeezing in, locking him down in one of the most - Choza admitted - ham-fisted captures any ninja could be caught in.

Ibiki looked mildly impressed, then reached into his vest, walking around Choza's extended arm - no reason to keep the medic _close_, after all. Tenzo moved to stand almost directly between the medic and the Hokage. Shikaku crossed his arms over his chest and stared intently at the medic, while Ino moved behind him, reaching across Choza's swollen knuckles to brush the mask off.

A flash of disappointment ran through the senior Akimichi, then; it wasn't anyone he recognized. Well, perhaps for the best ... he wouldn't have to kill someone he knew, even if he couldn't guess more at why the hell this was happening. An unremarkable stony visage, brown eyes, sandy hair.

Ibiki produced a tongue depressor and took the falling mask, holding it across half of his own face, as though to shield himself from some unexpected spitting attack - like throat needles. Choza tightened his grip at that thought, steadily driving air from his prisoner's lungs, limiting his ability to try such a stunt.

"Show your tongue," the interrogation specialist demanded.

The medic didn't respond in the slightest.

Nodding, Ibiki put away the depressor, and produced a large, folding clamp. He pressed the points to the medical ANBU's face, some spot midway between his ear and the bottom of his jaw and slowly began to apply pressure. Even the medical ANBU betrayed a grunt of effort at resisting the pain as his jaw was excruciatingly pressured - the tendons themselves being assaulted.

His teeth slipped far enough apart for Ibiki to shove a wedge of metal into the man's mouth, locking it open. Releasing the clamp, the wedge somehow stayed in place on its own. Choza briefly wondered how, and then reminded himself of what Ibiki's specialty _was_.

The torturer produced something that looked like a pair of long, double-hooked fish hooks, with both points facing the same direction and on the same side, just one at the bottom, one nearer the middle. In an instant, both of them were spun around their top-loops on the torturer's fingertips - like kunai. An eye-blink later, they were inside the medical ANBU's mouth, and with another betrayed moan of suffering, the man's tongue was dragged through the narrow gap of his teeth.

Ibiki made a 'tsk' noise, applying a screw to the wedge between the man's teeth, ratcheting it open wider and wider with one hand - now pressing the back of his head into the cushion of Choza's meaty paw. The other hand held both of the hooks on the man's tongue, and pulled it further out - finally revealing what it was they were abusing the man _for_.

A seal.

"A seal," Ibiki remarked, unnecessarily. "On the back of the tongue, near the throat - from your angle, you can probably only see part of it."

The Hokage grunted in response. Tenzo's hands, at his side, flexed, each fingertip wiggling independently for a moment - as though in preparation for some jutsu.

Shikamaru leaned close, studying what he could see of the seal, then causing tendrils of shadow to reach out and pull the man's tongue even further, causing the medical ANBU to choke. Once he'd committed the details to memory, he released his shadow-tendrils. Ibiki removed the hooks with a practiced, fluid precision, leaving the contained medic to weakly cough blood - into a wadded cloth that Ibiki shoved between his teeth before removing the clamp and wedge.

The Nara elder made a copy of the seal on a paper and showed it to the Hokage. For a long minute the sandaime stared at it, before finally sighing and shaking his head. "No good," he said weakly. "We need ... an expert."

Tenzo's lips pursed tightly.

"What about this guy?" Choza asked, jerking his head to the medic. Yeah, he could contain him for a while longer, but...

The Hokage's eyes hardened. "Stage ... two," he answered. He coughed, and Tenzo was immediately at his side, frowning worriedly.

The ANBU medic's attention was already gone; Inoichi needed no further instruction. The ANBU was a traitor to Konoha, or worse. Even if it was unwitting...

"Ah," Inoichi said, using his mind-voice, instead of his real one - that habit that emerged in his deepest scans and interrogations. The mode he used when he forgot how to speak normally, he was in so deep. "He dies if I pull the information behind the seal from him ... and he loses control of his body if he tries to speak of it."

There was a moment of silence as Choza and Inoichi glanced to Shikaku expectantly. He usually was the one to find a solution in these situations. The jounin commander stroked his chin thoughtfully, expression irate.

"The seal's on his tongue," Ibiki remarked, breaking the silence. "We can just cut that out."

Choza and Shikaku shared a somewhat surprised glance at the torturer. Inoichi's mild surprise was tangible across his mind, before he restrained himself from broadcasting.

"I am not a proper medic, but I can ensure he won't die of blood-loss. I've performed this procedure before," he added. Then he turned and nodded to Inoichi, explaining, "I wouldn't normally suggest this, but _you_ won't need his tongue to get answers."

"Efficient," Tenzo remarked, his first contribution to the discussion so far.

The Hokage looked unhappy about it, but gave an incredibly weak, shaky nod. "Yes," he allowed.

Choza was suddenly glad he hadn't had time to eat first.

Before he continued further, Inoichi added - on behalf of the Hokage - "The Sandaime does think that the tongue should be preserved for Jiraya to examine later."

Yeah, it was going to be one of _those_ days.

"Mmm. My advice? Add Tsunade to the 'get-the-fuck-home' list," Shikaku added sourly, not looking at the Hokage.

Damn it.

He hoped Choji's day went better than this.

* * *

Ino hated to admit it, but her chosen training was already wearing down on her. Naruto's bunshin made good sensor practice targets, but it still strained her chakra reserves. Add in a late-night 'training' date, and she was wiped out by the time morning came around.

It didn't help that she was _still_ stuck with Sakura, but the two had settled into an uneasy truce. Kurenai was the 'nice' teacher, but even she wouldn't sit back and let them snipe- And it was a terrible habit to get in the business of, since Kakashi took it as an invitation to slap an exploding tag on or between them.

She glanced around to be sure she wasn't being targeted as she stepped through the doorway. Her mother had been up early, grumbling about her father's work. She had no idea what it was about, but knew better than to ask either of them, anyway. Choji probably knew; their fathers tended to be together more often than not.

Of course, before that, she had to finish her daily assignments. They still didn't even have clearance for D rank missions! How long was this going to continue, anyway?

She warily headed to the bridge to await Kakashi's arrival. Thankfully, Hinata was there, first. Ino was sure she could bite her own tongue as long as there was one other person; if she'd been stuck with Sakura alone, she'd probably be unable to avoid picking at the girl with the over-sized forehead.

"Good morning," she called to the dark-haired girl, stopping to stretch her arms over her head a few paces away from Hinata. "No sign of forehead yet?"

"...morning," Hinata mumbled in response, shaking her head.

Sheesh - why was she so quiet, anyway?

"So, your blood limit makes for good sensors, huh?" she posed.

Probably, Ino was training for something that would be useless if she were on the same team as the white-eyed girl.

Hinata blinked at that, her eyes locking on Ino. "It's just fine control," she answered, ducking her head and looking away.

"'Fine control'," Ino groused, crossing her arms over her chest. "Everything is linked to 'fine control'."

"Almost," Sakura agreed, popping out of a nearby bush and startling Ino. Hinata didn't seem surprised in the slightest, though. "Though fine control also lets you conceal your presence from sensors."

"If fine control is so awesome, why doesn't everyone work on it?" Ino wondered, eying Sakura suspiciously.

"Chakra is usually related to body mass, since at least part of it is physical energy," the pink-haired girl lectured authoritatively. "Males are larger than females, so they tend to have more chakra. Therefore, females develop better control so they can keep up with limited resources. That makes females more likely to be sensors or medical ninja."

"So are men just lazy?" Ino wondered, snorting.

"It's not laziness," Hinata said, sounding surprisingly irate for such a timid girl. "If someone's got so much chakra they almost never needed fine control, then they wouldn't learn it."

"Don't you have the best control of any of us?" Sakura asked, raising her eyebrows.

Hinata shrugged, one hand gesturing to her face. "I can see what I'm doing," she said simply. "So can any Hyuuga."

"Huh, so girls make better ninja because of their superior control?" Ino wondered.

"Not precisely," Kakashi remarked warmly, seeming to just then appear from nowhere- Even Hinata was a bit startled, so Ino didn't feel _too_ bad. "In this world, there are exceptions. Men with small reserves and naturally good control, or women with more chakra than some men ... and worse control. It's important for any ninja to focus on countering their own weaknesses, as well as trying to complement their strengths!"

Since the session hadn't started off with an exploding tag, Ino cautiously asked, "You mean, get more chakra?"

"That's right, my cute little students!" the one-eyed jounin agreed cheerfully. And what better way to work on that than practical applications? Chakra is like developing muscles! So we have to exercise and spend chakra to start developing more!"

Sakura looked pale, but shifted to a defensive stance, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. "So, more of the usual training?" she asked unhappily.

"Perhaps!" Kakashi allowed, shrugging. "But you were already speaking of sensors? Why not practice that! Now, let's start out with a jog toward our favorite training ground - today's test ... if you can detect me coming, I'll save my explosive tags for more worthy targets!"

Sakura blanched, while Ino's eyebrows rose. Now _that_ sounded like a chance to put a certain pink-haired know-it-all in her place! Sure, she wouldn't be close to Hinata's equal, but who cared about that? She'd still be better than Sakura!

"Alright!" Ino cheered confidently. "I'm ready to face this training!"

"I'm not running away from this challenge," Sakura agreed, despite how unhappy she looked with the idea.

"That's great!" Kakashi cheered. "But I already told you where we should be training, and we're all still standing here! So-"

Hinata broke away faster than Ino could follow, managing to clear the radius of the explosive tag that Kakashi... Well, Ino realized in retrospect, as the explosion made her ears ring and blasted her toward the _same damn river_, it was probably one of Kakashi's bunshin.

The only real consolation she had was Sakura being catapulted into the same body of water at her side.

'Bastard-sensei' indeed...

* * *

It was harder to get up without having Hinata around to make breakfast and wake him up. But then, Naruto reminded himself, he couldn't afford to get soft! Having a friend help him out was awesome, but he couldn't take it for granted, could he?

But he _could_ have a clone stay up all night working on something to wake him up- And that he did.

"Boss!" the clone called, shaking his sluggish form.

"Eh," he groaned.

In response, the clone released, filling his head with a night of studies and rousing him.

That still worked really well!

In high spirits, he finished his morning routine, pausing to admire his outfit before dressing. He had thought it was getting a bit shabby, but when he looked it over, it seemed in much better condition than he recalled. The knee reinforcements... Hmm. When had he gotten those? He couldn't remember, but when he looked closely, there were no signs of hasty repairs. Other than a fine sheen of ... spider silk?

Maybe a moth or something had tried to eat his outfit. Well, it was just as comfortable as ever, and holding up amazingly well. That was great, too!

After dressing and assigning a bunshin to clean up the place - Hinata had gone through so much trouble to get his apartment into good condition, after all - he trotted out to meet with Asuma and the others.

He found that Choji and Kiba had beaten him to the meeting place, both of them staring toward the tower. "Hey, guys!" he called, waving cheerfully.

"Oh, hey!" Kiba barked. "What's up, Naruto?" From the top of his head, Akamaru yapped his own greeting.

"Not much. I'm on time, right?"

"Should be," Choji agreed, nodding slowly.

Naruto glanced at the tower, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "What's going on?"

"Something happened at the tower last night, but nobody seems to know what it is!" Kiba whined. "I heard a huge tree exploded out of the Hokage's office!"

"My father was gone when I woke up," Choji said thoughtfully. "Called to help the Hokage with something."

"What's it mean?" Naruto wondered.

"Not sure," Choji apologized, shaking his head.

Before anyone else could speak, Kiba growled, "Sensei incoming!"

The three turned to look, seeing Sarutobi Asuma approach from the road, his step slower than usual.

"Morning, Sensei!" Naruto called excitedly, once he was within hearing range. "Do you know what's going on at the tower?"

Choji and Kiba both stared at Naruto, making him wonder if he'd said something he shouldn't have. Hey, it was a fair question, wasn't it?

"As far as I've been told, business as usual," Asuma answered, shaking his head. "I can tell you that the Hokage seems fine."

Naruto exchanged a glance with the others. What did _that_ mean?

Clearing his throat, the man continued, "Over the next three days, instead of focusing on more techniques or other training, all of your teachers are going to focus on either your chakra control, or your chakra reserves - whichever is weaker and would benefit from more training. After that, if all goes well, it will be time to start you out on D rank missions."

"Yes!" Kiba yipped. "It's about freakin' time!"

Even Choji looked excited at the prospect. Naruto wanted to practically dance - this was going to be _great_!

"Of course, you're far behind quota. At this point ... it will be difficult to catch up," Asuma mused. "Well! Don't let that interfere with your training today!"

Naruto and the others stared at the bearded man, who slowly nodded to himself, seemingly absently.

"Yeah- Alright, on with your training," he declared, clapping his hands together. "Naruto, Choji, for you, that's chakra control. Kiba, you've got a fair balance of both power and control, so you're going to work to bring both of them up. That means that all training will be done while performing the leaf concentration exercise."

The three genin groaned in perfect harmony.

* * *

While Shikamaru would rather have had Naruto at his side instead of Sasuke, he found some small solace in the fact that the Uchiha seemed as unimpressed with the 'nice' sensei as he was. It beat training with Kakashi in terms of intensity, as Kurenai gave them a speech about the benefits of fine control. Like they hadn't heard enough variations on that lesson already.

"More tree-climbing?" Shikamaru asked unenthusiastically, once Kurenai had wrapped up the latest rendition of that tired speech.

"It would be more effective to work on both your control _and_ reserves," Kurenai said, smiling and gently shaking her head. "And you've been practicing on your own quite well! So as a treat, it's time to teach you something new!"

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose. Well, _that_ was unexpected! "Is it something good?" he wondered, when Shino and Sasuke both remained quiet - seemingly in some sort of unspoken agreement to compete on being stoically silent.

"Water walking!" Kurenai announced. "And once you have the trick of it down, light sparring atop the water! Though, I expect you'll need most of the day just to get started on it. It's still a good choice of exercise to get you started, in any case!"

Shikamaru was confident he could imagine Naruto's reaction to _that_ reveal. "Yay," he said flatly, turning to glance at the other two genin. "You guys looking forward to this as much as I am?"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, eyeing the light glinting off the nearby lake speculatively.

"Hmm," Shino echoed, adjusting his glasses while facing the same way.

The shadow-user was rewarded for his scrutiny of the kunoichi by a faint twitch of her eyebrow, though she kept her smile in place. Still sounding cheerful, she declared, "Then let's get started!"

Though he was certain that she was just trying to do her job, he couldn't help but feel mildly vindicated at seeing a hint of annoyance. She was also right that strengthening their reserves and control would be beneficial for all of them - but Shikamaru and Shino were already working themselves to the metaphorical bone on that count trying to keep up with Naruto's seemingly limitless chakra reserves _anyway_.

After learning how to tree-walk, walking on water wasn't - surprisingly - that much harder after all, though Shikamaru felt somehow certain Naruto would make some embarrassing mistake a few times before he got it right. Well ... there was time to try and slip him some extra help on that front before his current team met with Kurenai anyway.

That thought in mind, after some of the light sparring that the kunoichi would allow - Sasuke certainly was ready to go at it with more energy than Shikamaru was ready to spend - they trooped to Senzo's for their traditional meeting.

Surprisingly enough, the female genin didn't seem to be nearly as singed as he would have expected from an intense session with the bastard sensei. Too bad the one-eyed jounin hadn't stuck with another lecture-only session...

Since Naruto's team was the last to appear, as the trio took seats next to the kunoichi, Shikamaru asked, "Ba- Uh, Kakashi let up a bit?"

"Not a whole lot," Ino said sourly. At her side, Sakura seemed sunk into an even more bitter mood - and at a glance, she was singed significantly more. The blonde shook her head, adding, "Pretty much 'awareness' training. So if you could detect him coming, he'd just say something annoying instead of the whole - you know - explosive tag thing."

All of them shifted and glanced about uncomfortably, as if expecting another one.

"He did use less in general, though," Hinata added helpfully. She barely looked ruffled, unsurprisingly.

"Either that or he's running low on his exploding tag fund. Hell- Maybe Konoha in general is running short on _paper_. The amount of tags that that single bastard teacher uses in training probably outweighs the amount of paper going through the Hokage's office!" Shikamaru returned.

Naruto snorted at hearing that as his team straggled in, and even _Sasuke's_ lips twitched in an almost-smile at the joke.

Senzo collected their orders as a matter of course, and then since training wasn't that exciting, conversation shifted to the next interesting topic. The only points of interest were the slip from Asuma to his team about D rank missions, and whatever had happened at the Hokage's tower.

Of course, none of them knew much about it, beyond Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza being involved. It could have meant anything, really. "Well," Sakura said authoritatively, "the Senju clan is lost, but they supposedly had a kekai genkai that let them manipulate wood.

"The Hokage is supposed to be renowned - legendary among ninja. It's entirely possible that 'the Professor' has learned some way to replicate that lost blood limit!"

"Could be," Shikamaru mused, rubbing his chin. "It raises some questions..."

"Are we going to find out?" Naruto asked. "See if it's a technique we can pick up, too?"

"If it's the Hokage's, no, I don't think anyone but you is going to pick an S-rank jutsu up from him and learn it overnight," Shikamaru answered. "It's best to not _really_ worry about it ... but..." He paused, thinking things over. He'd been putting it off partly because of the lack of opportunity, and also partly because he was a bit nervous about what he was doing.

"Yeah?" Kiba whined. "You got an idea?"

"Nothing that will get us in trouble," Sasuke said flatly.

"No, of course not," Shikamaru agreed. "There's one way we can poke around, but we won't find anything out unless it's not classified. We'll need a day off, first."

"Okay, then what do we do?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Well, I'll need _you_ to help me out with a distraction," Shikamaru said, shrugging. "Shino and Hinata can help me get what we're looking for, and then we'll all meet up and trade notes. To be honest, I don't expect to find much of anything."

"I don't want any part of anything that makes us look bad," Sakura grumbled.

"Me, either," Ino agreed.

"Well, whatever- For now we've got taijutsu practice at my place," Kiba barked. "Choji and me practice almost every day, even when everyone else is busy with other stuff- Who's in?"

"Family training," Hinata said apologetically, shaking her head.

"Ah, I'm in!" Naruto declared. "Your sister keeps finding weak points I have to close up! Shikamaru, Shino, you want to join?"

"I will," Shino agreed quietly.

"I'll pass," Shikamaru said with a shrug. Turning to Sakura he asked, "Do you still have those notes on ciphers? Having code-language and phrases as a team isn't going to make a great difference in training - but it could be very useful in the field."

Kiba made a face at the thought of studying, and whined, "So there's no real reason to learn it now, is there?"

Naruto looked like he agreed, but bit his tongue.

"A code language would show the teachers that we were very serious about working together," Sasuke said, frowning at his clean plate.

Sakura straightened up, grinning like she'd just been handed a huge bounty. "Yeah!" she said enthusiastically. "Um, we can talk about the ciphers any time, Sasuke-kun, Shikamaru!"

"Not me," Sasuke said with a shrug. "I'm going to join the taijutsu practice. I'll learn the ciphers once you two sort it out."

Sakura's expression twisted to confusion, and she looked conflicted. "O...oh, okay," she said quietly.

"Did you still want another bunshin to practice your sensor stuff, Ino-chan?" Naruto asked.

The blonde started slightly, then shrugged. "Actually ... I'll stick with Sakura and Shikamaru," she decided.

"I'll send one with you guys anyway," Naruto declared, grinning.

"Good idea," Shikamaru allowed. "Give yourself a leg up on the ciphers."

"A...are you going to be joining us regularly?" Choji hesitantly asked Sasuke.

"I have to," Sasuke grumbled. "I'm supposed to be part of a team, so shouldn't I?"

"Yeah!" Kiba yelped. "Absolutely! Alright - we're going to be the best team ever! Now who's ready to get thrown around the dojo by my sister?"

Sasuke snorted. "Like that'll happen," he retorted. "Let's pay up and get to it."

Shikamaru nodded, wondering what exactly had changed for the Uchiha. Whatever his motivation, he was at least working with Naruto and the others ... wasn't he? "Alright, everyone, we have our assignments. Let's get to it."

The genin nodded to one-another and left behind enough to cover their meals before filing out, Hinata alone giving a forlorn glance to the two groups as she headed home for her own training.

* * *

Kakashi, for one, could hardly wait for the convergence of the teachers after the students had cleared out. The other teachers dispensed with what subtlety they usually bothered with, skipping Senzo's entirely to meet in the relatively more private space of Anko's apartment.

Anko's apartment that he was getting oddly comfortable in, but he tried not to think about that part, sitting on the floor by the table, next to Asuma.

"The kids are digging, but I don't think they're going to get far," he volunteered, starting off the line of discussion.

There was no real point to beating around the bush.

"So none of you know what happened at the tower, either?" Anko asked, grimacing.

"I know that my father is reasonably healthy," Asuma supplied. "But, well..."

"I don't like it," Kurenai muttered. "But what can we do?"

"Prepare your students to the best of your ability and keep a sharp eye open," Anko supplied. "I mean, I'll just throw that out there as a wild guess, since I don't teach anyone myself."

"The bigger concern is what Kakashi mentioned. Namely our students doing something they shouldn't," Kurenai said, shaking her head. "I'm concerned about Shikamaru's plan, whatever it is."

"Well, do we blow the fact that we're keeping an eye on the Chibikage, or wait until we can catch him in the act?" Anko wondered. "I mean, one way, we teach him to just be sneakier."

"To be completely honest, I'm not that worried about it," Asuma answered, shrugging. "Shikamaru has to contend with his father."

Anko squinted at him. "Hang on," she said slowly. "You're planning on letting them dig while spying, so if it's something good, you get to know it too, aren't you?"

Kurenai sighed, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "Really?" she asked doubtfully.

Asuma allowed the smallest hints of a smile. "We wish to know as well," he supplied. "If we're watching them and can step in before they get in trouble, then we can claim it was infiltration practice."

"You're using your students like tools!" Anko protested.

"You're actually complaining about that?" Kakashi wondered. "I would have expected you to say that letting them mess up would be a great chance to teach them about the consequences of failure."

"Well ... yeah." Anko pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I wanted to suggest it first," she muttered. "But I had to play 'responsible' since you beat me to it."

Sighing, Kurenai rubbed her forehead. "I'll be borrowing a page from Haruno's book and pretending I know nothing about this," she declared.

"In the meantime, while it's taken a bit longer than I'd have liked, the kids are _all_ getting into the idea of working together," Kakashi supplied. "Once we start the D rank missions, we can put a bit more emphasis on special training. We should be prepared."

"True enough," Asuma agreed. "I think I'll turn in early tonight on that note."

"That seems sensible," Kurenai agreed, nodding. "Until next time, then."

And then they were leaving, putting just Anko and Kakashi together.

After locking her door, Anko winked at him and said, "Come on, hero. You got your two favorite students to work together; let's see what 'teamwork' we can pull off in the other room, huh?"

Kakashi was about to agree, until a knock interrupted the pair of them at the door. Frowning, Anko wrenched it open, blinking at a familiar ANBU mask - that of a bear.

His stomach lurched, and he frowned, turning his gaze away from the ninja he had worked with so often during his own time in ANBU. It wasn't his mask that drew Kakashi's attention, but the missive from the Hokage he held out in one hand, the unmistakable seal facing Kakashi directly.


	9. Chapter 9

Motivation Chapter Nine

by Brian Randall

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. Some tinting is borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

The ANBU with the bear mask gave a motion that may have been a shrug before vanishing via shunshin. Kakashi frowned at the scroll with the Hokage's mark on it.

"Well?" Anko prompted unhappily from his side.

He sighed and shook his head, breaking the seal with a swift motion and unrolling it to scan through. "I- I have an assignment?" Kakashi said, almost in disbelief. "But I'm responsible for training..."

After he trailed off with a frown, Anko prowled impatiently around him, sorely tempted to try and read the message herself ... but it was from the Hokage, and she knew better than to overstep _that_ bound. Following Kakashi around and sniping at him verbally was one thing, but that wasn't actually breaking any rules.

Any _serious_ rules, at least.

"Well?" she prompted again, once he heaved a small sigh and rolled the scroll up.

"I'm being sent on a mission nearby, probably for a day or two," he mused, shaking his head.

"Assassination?" Anko wondered. "Nuke-nin gettin' too close to the village, and they want some special ex-ANBU to take it down?"

Kakashi hesitated, turning his eye toward her thoughtfully, then shrugging broadly. "They want me to try and bring Tsunade back to Konoha. She's supposedly a day or two of travel away, drifting from bar to casino, and then back."

Anko could only stare, unmoving.

"This has to be related to whatever happened in the tower," Kakashi added in belated realization.

"Ah, yeah. So ... what about the kids, then?" Anko wondered.

"I'm not sure," the one-eyed ninja admitted, cocking his head to one side thoughtfully. "I wonder if, since it's such short notice, you can fill in for me?"

"Yeah, right," Anko snorted. "Anyway, you just spilled a secret to me you shouldn't have."

She tried to ignore the way her heart beat when he looked genuinely surprised - and a little bit ... hurt? - at that, even behind his mask.

Her lips curving into a smile, she added, "Only way to keep me quiet's going to be to drag me with you - and anyway, I'm not allowed near the kids officially. Isn't your friend Gai in town?"

"Well, if nothing else, _that_ will let me retain my reputation as the 'bastard-sensei'," Kakashi mused with a cough, his uncovered eye swiftly turning away from meeting hers. "Alright - fine. I'll see if I can find Gai. Let Asuma and Kurenai know what's going on, and I'll meet you at the western gate in fifteen minutes."

It went pretty much without saying that Asuma and Kurenai were likely to be together, so Anko nodded. A heartbeat later, neither of the jounin were there, leaving only a swirl of leaves to drift down to the floor of the special jounin's apartment.

* * *

Kiba was actually pretty proud of the training and practice he'd gotten in with the other boys- Admittedly, his sister (and her dogs) had still overpowered all the other genin, but she'd needed to put real effort into it. That was pretty good, right there! Akamaru was getting better at staying in place in intense fights, and had yipped a few warnings to Kiba, which let him dodge some hits.

Naruto seemed to be working on his evasion, too, which surprised Kiba - he'd always thought the blond would be more focused on blocking than avoidance. What had happened to change that?

Well, he still blocked, too, but he seemed to have gotten a better sense to move out of the way of attacks that he couldn't block easily, which was a huge improvement. Choji was his usual self, landing no hits and getting thrown around like a very heavy rag doll - but he never stayed down for a single moment, just climbing back to his feet with grim determination and charging back in to provide cover for his allies.

If it weren't for _him_, Kiba would not have been able to land the few retaliatory strikes he did pull off! Shino and Sasuke did a bit better than that, even if they didn't hit as hard, and Naruto... Well, if he were using bunshin, he probably would have been better, but Hana had vetoed _that_ the first time he'd done it, after wearing herself down using Gatsuga to clear them out. Surprisingly enough, Naruto just shrugged and left about a half-dozen clones lingering at the edges of the dojo - and then the practice grounds, once Hana managed to launch all of them through the doorway.

He had mentioned something about remembering what his bunshin saw, so Kiba guessed they were looking for holes in his defenses.

Well, it had been a good practice anyway. Even Sasuke seemed to be trying to fit in!

The really great part, though, was the fact that Kiba had gotten the other two from his current team - Choji and Naruto - to practice together before meeting up with Bastard-sensei. No way would Kakashi get them this time! Now they would be prepared!

...or so he had _thought_.

When the three of them reached the bridge - early, to prepare for Kakashi's arrival - Naruto immediately dispatched a few bunshin, all using henge to look like random park visitors. Choji took up a stance near the center of the bridge against the upstream rail, ready to move. Kiba took a point on the railing opposite Choji.

And then... Then a jounin in a strange gray outfit beneath his vest, his hair in a bowl cut, and with the bushiest eyebrows Kiba had _ever_ seen showed up, grinning like some sort of ninja maniac. "Good morning, my youthful students!" he boomed out, fists on his hips.

Choji turned to stare, his jaw falling slightly slack. Naruto also stared, cocking his head to one side.

Kiba blinked and turned to look around for other genin that might have been addressed instead of ... well ... _them_.

"Do- Do you mean _us_?" he yelped, eyes widening in confusion and alarm.

"That's right!" the jounin proclaimed cheerfully. "Kakashi, my most youthful rival, has been sent on a mission of some urgency! Having no one else to turn to in his time of need, he asked me, Maito Gai, to fill in for him!" This introduction was accompanied by a pose that made every single disguised bunshin break cover by staring in awestruck horror.

"Y...you're our teacher for today?" Naruto asked, shaking his head in surprise.

"Indeed! At the moment, my own students are recovering from their last assignment!" the jounin practically bellowed. "While Tenten and Neiji are in still in good condition, Lee is healing from an injury taken from an enten-hari!" He bowed his head dramatically. "It is unfortunate - but Lee's blazing youth will let him heal in almost no time!"

"An enten- What?" Kiba managed.

"It's an exploding-tag propelled senbon," Naruto offered, not looking away from Gai. "Those things are supposed to be pretty nasty - is he going to be alright?"

"Oh?" Gai responded, dropping his pose and looking genuinely impressed. "I see my hip rival has trained his students exceedingly well if you know what that is! Lee will be just fine, in a few days - and then we will train even harder! In the meantime, students of my youthful rival, are you prepared?"

"I... I don't know," Choji admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Usually Kakashi's thrown an exploding tag at us by this point." Kiba and Naruto warily surveyed their surroundings for an incoming tag, while Choji shifted, surprisingly light on his feet. "What, uh, did you have in mind?"

"First, a warm-up lap around the wall of Konoha!" the unfamiliar jounin boomed, before flowing smoothly into a swift jog. "Now, follow me!"

"A...around the entire city?" Kiba yelped, even as he broke into a run to keep up with the crazed jounin.

"That's right!" Gai cheered.

Trust Kakashi to find a _bigger_ bastard to fill in for him when he couldn't be bothered to show up himself!

* * *

If it weren't for the fact that Shikamaru had shown genuine interest - and appreciation - for the work that Sakura had put into developing a cipher, she was certain that training with Kurenai would have made her scream in frustration. Bad enough that Ino and Hinata were both better at detecting Kakashi the previous day...

Kurenai directing them to focus should have left Sakura feeling like she was ahead of Ino. Instead, the blonde seemed to be catching up to her in terms of ability - and Hinata's blood limit gave her an edge that neither of them could really compete with.

So they wore themselves out practicing water walking to the point of exhaustion, and then Kurenai lectured them on the finer points as she handed out the handmade lunch she traditionally prepared for her students. None of them tried to complain about the portion size, after Asuma's lecture. In fact, after burning through that much chakra, Sakura was a bit surprised to find herself able to finish it off without any special effort.

The lecture wasn't anything particularly new, given what Kakashi had taught them before, but her delivery was undoubtedly superior in every way. "Well, what can we even do for training now that we're completely worn out of chakra?" Ino complained, after Kurenai gathered the empty lunch boxes and wrapped them up.

"Sakura seems to have this idea that it should be study," Kurenai remarked, which made the pink-haired girl sit upright.

"Information is power!" she declared.

"It is! And there are skills that you can practice that don't rely on chakra, as well," Kurenai agreed. "As members of a team, if you aren't a front-line fighter, what sorts of skills is it positive to develop?"

"Support skills?" Hinata guessed, her brow furrowing.

"Well, between your blood limit and my family jutsu, we've got that covered," Ino declared.

"Without chakra," Kurenai gently reprimanded. "That's intelligence gathering, among other things - but I was thinking something more specific."

"What's that?" Ino wondered, frowning.

"Medical training, naturally," Kurenai said brightly. "Even without chakra, first aid can save a companion's life in the field!"

"We all know basic first aid, though," Sakura objected. "They cover _that_ much in the academy!"

"Then, why not study more advanced first aid?" Kurenai countered. "You are kunoichi, after all. If you aren't always allowed to fight on the front lines because your allies need your intelligence, perception, or other abilities elsewhere, then being able to help them when they're hurt is a tremendous asset, isn't it?"

Thinking of the time she had removed the senbon from Naruto - as simple as that actually was - Sakura nodded without hesitation. She was a quick study - _that_ was something she could pick up easily! "I'm interested!" she declared. Then, deciding to show up her companions, she added, "Being a medical-nin is something that requires years of training, and very, very fine chakra control. If it were to take years, why not study the basics now? It'd still be some help, even if I didn't take that approach!"

"That's exactly-"

"I'll learn, too!" Hinata added without hesitation. "I want to help N- My allies however I can!"

"I'll do it, too- But do all kunoichi get pushed toward learning medicine?" Ino wondered. "Or is it just something that happens because kunoichi _tend_ to have better control?"

"Ah ... the latter," Kurenai said, looking slightly off balance. "Hmm, I didn't think all three of you would be interested in medicine. There isn't much call for three medics on a single team, really."

Sakura snorted. "And how often do you see more than one kunoichi on a team?" she countered. "Anyway - I dare you to ask any of the boys if _they_ are up for medical roles! Naruto's control is so sloppy that'd just be a joke, for him!" Now ... Sasuke, on the other hand...

"So it seems..." Kurenai said slowly, frowning. "Regardless - for the rest of today's training, let us discuss first aid techniques. I shall use genjutsu to simulate some common injuries, and you can practice the best approach to treating them."

Sakura's eyebrows rose. Well, if Ino was studying, too, she'd be sure to surpass her - if Sasuke were injured and needed someone to look after him, she'd see that at least _one_ of them was capable of taking care of him!

* * *

Asuma continued to be Shikamaru's favorite teacher. An entire day of doing almost nothing but _thinking_? That was pretty much his favorite activity, if sleeping weren't an option.

The topic had shifted to 'meditation and mindfulness in duress'. For Shikamaru, an inverted lotus was second nature - and so were most of the other contortions that Asuma had suggested. Shino and Sasuke were both stiffer and had to work much harder to maintain the various poses that Asuma demanded. Still, meditating while being aware of your surroundings wasn't hard.

Shino had a great advantage insofar as even if he closed his eyes, his kikaichu were wary, which put Sasuke behind them, surprisingly.

Then again, Sasuke was fiercely competitive, and had caught up with Shikamaru by the end of the session - though his sour expression suggested irritation over things anyway. Once Asuma finally released them for the day, they regrouped at Senzo's.

They were the first to arrive, and Shikamaru was mildly concerned to see that the old man had actually put a small sign up at their traditional table noting that it was reserved. The elderly proprietor grinned at the genin and showed them to the table anyway, prompting Shikamaru to realize how ingrained the habit had become - Senzo expected them and held a table, just for the genin group.

Shino and Sasuke observed silently, and Shikamaru shook his head, taking the third seat from one end of their traditional row - likely, the groups would all sit together, and he wanted to leave space for Hinata to sit next to Naruto if possible. Shino had already discovered the hazards of being between them once. Shino and Sasuke took the other seats to his right, the Uchiha heir not hesitating to grab the seat that would prevent any blonde or pink-haired genin from grabbing an adjacent seat.

The next trio to enter was the kunoichi ensemble, and as anticipated, Ino and Sakura both eyed Sasuke's placement before Sakura sighed and dropped to the seat next to Shikamaru. "Did you want to go over the cipher again tonight?" Sakura wondered.

Ino took the next seat, and Hinata hesitated, but ultimately took the next over, biting her lip and eyeing the nearby vacant seat hopefully.

"It's usually family training night," Shikamaru replied, shaking his head slightly. "I think my father's busy with something, but I wanted to discuss another training exercise with Naruto-kun and Shino-kun. You're doing a great job on those ciphers, though."

Ino snorted, scowling- Then blinking as Naruto, Choji, Naruto, Kiba, and Naruto finally straggled in.

"B...brutal," Kiba panted, gasping for breath, leaning on Naruto for support. The pair of bunshin helping Choji stay upright nodded in agreement, guiding the larger boy to one of the three free seats and letting him collapse in his chair. He slumped forward, arms on the table before him to keep him upright as one of the Naruto vanished into a puff of chakra, and the other slumped into the seat next to Hinata.

The remaining bunshin helped Kiba get to the final seat on the end, before he too puffed into smoke.

"What- What happened?" Hinata asked in agitation, looking over Naruto closely, the veins around her eyes pulsing faintly as she activated her blood limit. "He seemed to go easier on us yesterday!"

"Bastard-sensei didn't even show up," Kiba panted, still struggling to catch his breath.

"Instead..." Choji groaned, turning his head to one side, but too worn out to continue further.

Shikamaru turned and stared as well - an unfamiliar jounin in an unflattering green one-piece, sporting a gigantic glinting smile, strode through the door. "Hello, my youthful students!" he announced gleefully.

"I, Maito Gai am filling in for your teacher - my hip and cool rival - Hatake Kakashi! I believe tomorrow I have the honor of practicing with a Shikamaru-kun, Shino-kun, and a youthful protege of Hatake Kakashi himself, Sasuke-kun! We will meet in your normal spot, and I will be prepared as the sun rises - so join me when you can!"

"I- What?" Shikamaru managed to sputter, staring. He'd heard _stories_ of Maito Gai from his father, and they were _terrifying_. His supposed rivalry with Kakashi was something that prompted Shikaku to shudder faintly and grumble, 'Better him than me.' And he was supposed to be taking over for Kakashi?

"Your youthful friends managed to complete their laps around the village, adding an additional leaf for the leaf concentration exercise per lap!" Gai exclaimed gleefully. "Surely you can match their dozen laps, can't you?"

"Twelve laps," Sasuke mused, looking at Naruto in consternation. It didn't seem to be an _angry_ stare this time, but it was focused on the blond unwaveringly. "I will match that, at _least_."

"_That_ is the spirit, young Uchiha! I look forward to seeing the three of you tomorrow morning!"

"Oh, joy," Shikamaru managed, before Gai gave another one of those creepy grins - was he using a genjutsu or something? - and vanished. "Well, it looks like _we_ have to compete against the stamina monsters of the nine of us - so there's _that_ to look forward to."

As if in response, Choji's arms slipped off the table and his face slammed into the same surface - he stayed there, unmoving, as Kiba wobbled, staring off into space.

"I'm _still_ not fully recovered," Naruto groused, shaking his head.

"I ... am so dog-damned tired," Kiba wheezed, still wobbling. "I think I could sleep through taijutsu practice today."

"Ah," Hinata allowed, very quietly, looking dismayed.

"I'll be up to our usual practice after getting something to eat," Naruto declared, nodding.

...aaand there went any chance of trying to talk Gai into going easier on them.

"Weren't- Weren't you supposed to focus on fine control or something?" Ino asked, blinking. "I mean, we had to work on chakra strength, and I thought..."

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "But he was all, 'why not exercise your bodies at the same time?'"

Kiba whimpered.

"And then _someone_ said, 'Oh, that's easy!', and we all started running while maintaining the leaf meditation exercise... I'm not sure if that's better than exploding tags or worse, yet," Naruto mused.

"Worse," Kiba declared flatly, simultaneous from a mumbled groan from Choji.

"Wait - if he's filling in for Kakashi, where did _he_ go?" Sakura wondered. "He mentioned an assignment?"

"Who knows?" Ino asked, shrugging. "And what does it matter? It looks like _we_ dodged an exploding tag!"

Rubbing his forehead and thinking of the shell-game practice he'd _wanted_ to get in with Shino and Naruto, Shikamaru realized he should conserve his energy. "On second thought," he said, shaking his head, "I think we might want to go over ciphers tonight after all, Sakura."

"Eh? Ah - yeah, alright," the pink-haired girl agreed, nodding. "After tonight it should be done - there's no point to making it so complex that no one can learn how to use it."

Shikamaru nodded absently. He still had yet to launch that plan to find out about Naruto's blood limit - if there was one. The first day they actually ran D-rank missions was _probably_ going to be their best bet, but if he was wiped out by an even more zealous instructor than Kakashi...

* * *

Choza moved his jaw to one size and then cracked his neck before shifting from foot to foot to work out some stiffness. As grueling as the last days had been, he was glad for the chance to take a break. At a glance, Shikaku and Inoichi had similar thoughts.

Though they were spared anything nearly as scary as using the Hokage as a puppet to make him look healthier than he was again, uncovering what they had didn't help in the slightest. It wasn't holding a man down while Ibiki cut his tongue out that bothered him. He'd had to do worse than that in his time.

What was alarming was the same thing that had put the still-recovering Hokage so much on edge...

After his initial pronouncement of who was responsible for the seal placed on the ANBU medical-nin's tongue, and Ibiki's grimly efficient surgery - true to his word, the medic-nin did not bleed out from the operation - Inoichi had wasted no time delving into his mind.

"Unfortunately," he said in his mental voice, as deep as he'd gone, "I can glean nothing he cannot recall or was unable to perceive."

"Who placed the seal on him?" Shikaku asked aloud, glancing to the Hokage thoughtfully.

Sarutobi nodded his own grim confirmation of the question.

Inoichi spent a long minute staring at his unflinching subject, who stared back. Neither of them spared a glance for Ibiki, sealing the tongue into a containment scroll for later analysis after copying the mark, or Choza, still holding the ANBU medic-nin in one over-sized fist.

When it came, Inoichi's response was ... wearied. "His memories are not clear. Upon his initiation into ANBU, he was taken to an unfamiliar place by two senior ANBU. There, he was restrained - the images that remain are a single sharingan eye and the phrase ... 'for the village'."

Shikaku rocked back on his heels, eyebrows rising as he glanced back to the Hokage. The elder ninja slumped back in his chair and gestured the jounin commander to continue questioning, so Shikaku unhesitatingly asked, "Any recall of what the seal did to him?"

"It's undoubtedly tied to keeping whoever placed it from being recovered," Inoichi explained slowly. "I believe that the damage I can perceive here was caused by the removal of the tongue. As the seal was removed from his body, it also excised any clear memory of the one who placed it."

Ibiki grimaced, lowering his gaze to the scroll now containing that same tongue. "Damn," he grumbled.

"It may not have been pointless," Shikaku countered. "So - this man was of questionable loyalty because of a seal placed on him. We removed that seal. So now...?"

"His loyalty has waned somewhat, but as a ninja of Konoha, the cost of a tongue is less than some which must be paid," Inoichi offered, still not speaking aloud. "He is not pleased about this, but is unlikely to betray us."

Sarutobi grunted and nodded faintly at that. "Understandable," he creaked out. "The point being..."

"We can trust him, but his missing knowledge alone could betray him through behavior," Shikaku surmised. "Well - identities of the ANBU that took him to get that seal placed? We have to find out just how deeply Konoha has been infiltrated ... and we can't afford to tip our hand, either."

"They were masked," Inoichi answered.

"First things first," Shikaku sighed, shaking his head. "What do we do with this guy? For all we know about the seal, the one who placed it-"

"Orochimaru," Sarutobi interrupted. "Or some cronie he sent out ... but that's... A sharingan eye? I don't think he would let it go to anyone else, if he could take it on his own."

Shikaku nodded. "The seal's maker could be notified about some sort of activation, given the effect it already had on his memories," he agreed. "Thoughts?"

"Urgent assignment," Choza grunted. "Hokage's orders are highest, after all."

"Right," Shikaku agreed, looking to the Hokage for confirmation. "We play it straight. We'll anticipate that the seal's maker knows, but do our best to monopolize on the idea that he might _not_. So we send this guy somewhere out of sight under a few trusted watchers to keep an eye on him and make sure we can intercept anyone who tries to contact him."

"Keep him close," Sarutobi insisted, shaking his head slightly as one palm slapped the surface of his desk for emphasis.

Shikaku grimaced, but nodded. Glancing at the medic-nin, he asked, "Suggestions?"

Inoichi relayed, "He's still a medic-nin, even if he was ANBU. He'd like to keep doing that much. ANBU doesn't typically have much to do with the hospital, in any case, so any other contacts or compromised ANBU agents would stand out more."

"We can trust him?" Ibiki wondered, finishing up cleaning and stowing his tools.

Shikaku rubbed his beard thoughtfully, giving a slow nod. "If Ino-kun says so, then I will believe it," he pronounced. "Alright - say we sent him out on an assignment to find Tsunade, like Kakashi. Just covering a different area of the country. It's a solo assignment, should be zero risk. We come up with a story for why he's lost his tongue, then assign him to her as bodyguard. If it is... Well, if it's who you suspect, Hokage-sama, Tsunade would probably be one of the best people to try and keep an eye on him."

"If we can get her to come," Inoichi remarked, finally settling into using his voice, his hands rising to rub his temples wearily. At Shikaku's faint nod, Choza released the jutsu he had held for so long, his hand unclenching from around the medic-nin and then reassuming its more natural shape and size.

Bringing himself back to the present moment, Choza shook his head. One hand rubbed the other, one thumb working the pad of the opposite palm as he looked back. The medic-nin had actually been placed in a cell under Ibiki's watchful eye, with records officially indicating that he had been dispatched on the same mission as Kakashi.

The rest of the time since then - other than a few hastily grabbed hours of sleep - had largely centered around Shikaku formulating strategies to deal with the worst-case scenarios. Namely, a large portion of ANBU being compromised by a certain rogue ninja - and one of the Hokage's own students, at that.

The jounin commander sighed, leaning back in his seat. "I really like when we can all be lazy, more," he grumbled.

Choza grunted his own agreement, nodding, while Inoichi sipped at his tea. "Well," the blond man said abruptly, looking at his companions, free from the concern of prying eyes or ears in Shikaku's own study, "what next?"

"Not much else we can do until we get more information," the jounin commander grumbled. "Hopefully, Kakashi can bring Tsunade back - I'm worried about the Hokage's health after that."

It went without saying that Jiraya would return once summoned. Choza could only nod at that. He'd never known her _well_, but from her reputation...

"Which reminds me... I meant to set this up before the recent distraction - our children will be having some free time soon, and I have a strong suspicion of what they're going to be doing - my son has asked for permission to check the vault of land ownership records. Choza-kun, there is a specific sealed document I would like to you leave in the adjacent sealed vault."

Choza frowned at that. What vault was adjacent? Death records? Of course, anything truly critical was kept in a more secret vault, but it was possible a record could be misplaced from the one archive to the other. He certainly had access to those records, and if Shikaku ordered it, it was no problem at all. "What's this about?" he wondered.

"I want our children to have allies they can trust and work together without concern," the jounin clarified, when Inoichi regarded him curiously as well. "And they are digging into a certain genin's past. I'm sure you remember Mizuki's betrayal well enough..."

"We can't afford to risk breaking the Hokage's order," Inoichi countered, frowning sharply. "Revealing the name of-"

Shikaku raised a hand and shook his head. "I'm not about to break any trust on that front," he said easily. "And, anyway ... _he_ doesn't share a name with his son, in any case. However, there _is_ one person who holds the same last name. If they are going to dig, I think it's better to let them find something that won't turn them against one of their own. The boy needs allies, after all, and this gives them some basic information without needing to dig and discover ... a certain secret, or something that could get back to a certain genin and raise uncomfortable questions about the treatment of the child of a village hero."

Choza nodded, before realizing he didn't know for certain who Shikaku was referring to 'boy'. Naruto? His own son?

It was probably just as true for any of them as Choji, in any case.

"So, _her_ record, left somewhere in the death records vault, which can then be found and read," Choza surmised.

"It should give enough of an explanation into his background to keep them from digging further until ... someone decides to reveal more himself," Shikaku agreed.

Stretching his arms, Choza nodded his understanding. That was more than reasonable enough anyway. "I'll do it," he agreed.

What harm could come from revealing the name of Naruto's mother, anyway?

* * *

Kakashi's replacement was more exhausting to train under Kakashi himself - though he didn't throw any real surprises at the genin training beneath him. He also didn't eliminate a bulk of kikaichu with a single fire jutsu, or really use any jutsu at all. He seemed to live like a mayfly, as though he expected his life to be snuffed out suddenly at a moment's notice, though his endurance and enthusiasm exceeded _that_ by orders of magnitude.

Shikamaru was the one who had collapsed first, which Shino had expected would be the end of it - instead, without batting an eyelash, the jounin had just tossed the prone boy over his shoulders, prompting Shikamaru to groan, "Just let me die in peace..."

"You can still benefit from the youthful memories!" Gai boomed unflinchingly, not even remotely slowed by the boy's weight. "Onward!"

That was on lap _ten_, a grueling distance that Shino had not realized he could manage until he'd _had_ to. He felt himself starting to wear to the point of collapsing himself near the end of that lap, but Sasuke just grit his teeth and growled, "Twelve," with adamant ferocity.

Shino saw Naruto as another member of the colony, not a rival; if Naruto surpassed him in some way, then so be it. He'd just find other strengths to make their combined whole more complete. Still...

So he firmed his resolve, gritting his teeth, feeling the kikaichu within his body respond to his increased core temperature as they fanned out - smoothing the flow of chakra to his limbs.

Gai somehow saw that, and cheerfully approved, "That's the spirit!"

Sasuke's gaze flicked briefly to Shino's, and then the pair of them focused grimly on the path before them. By the end of lap eleven, their gaits had slowed, despite Gai's encouragement. Shikamaru's still-ragged and plaintive, "Are we done yet?" just spurred _both_ of them back on.

By the end of it, Shino was barely able to run straight, stumbling to a walking pace just past the conclusion of their dozenth lap. His lungs burned as though kikaichu had been trapped there, and were trying to dig their way out; his side ached as though two queens were battling for dominance.

Of course, that wasn't actually happening - but after another half-dozen paces, Shino dropped to his knees, heaving for breath. Shikamaru was set down, having recovered a little, thanks to the jounin. Even being carried, he'd kept his leaves in place.

Sasuke glared at nothing in particular, walking in an unsteady circle to prevent his joints from cramping up. Shino had to have kikaichu tend to that, and with Shikamaru's help managed to flop onto his back, great sawing breaths of air biting into his lungs.

"Twelve," Sasuke gasped out fixedly, finally gripping the trunk of a nearby tree for support.

"Well _done_!" Gai boomed, grinning. "And now you've earned what my rival has explained are your orders for tomorrow!"

Sasuke's gaze rose, and Shino wondered if he were starting _at_ Gai, or just as close as he could manage. "What?" Shikamaru asked for the three of them.

"You've earned a day to relax and rest!" Gai declared hands on his hips, a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead - the _only_ concession the monstrous jounin made toward being tired. "I must thank you for this exciting distraction! I miss my own students, but you shall always be precious to me!"

"Cool," Shikamaru groaned, leaning down and grabbing Shino's wrist, laboriously hauling the bug-user to his feet. Shino did his level best to help, but the bulk of the work was his friend's. Even once he was standing, without being steadied, he would have collapsed. For a moment, the shadow-user raised his free hand, as though contemplating his clan's signature jutsu...

But he hadn't recovered enough, so had to settle for letting Shino lean on him instead of animating him via shadow. Just as well, Shino thought; better to save that trick for when it was more needed. After giving them a salute and flashing that same grin at the genin, Gai bounded away as though a dozen laps around Konoha was just a _warm-up_.

The three of them staggered to Senzo's, and Shino was not particularly surprised to see they were the last to arrive. Ino and Sakura cried out in alarm and charged toward Sasuke, clamoring over his exhaustion. He only grimaced in response, trying to push through them to claim a seat.

"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked anxiously.

"Do you want some medicine?" Sakura offered, already fumbling through her belt pouch.

Ignoring both of them, Sasuke managed to stagger to Naruto's side and declared, "Twelve laps."

Kiba and Choji both grimaced at the reminder, while the blond's eyebrows rose. "Brutal, huh?" he offered sympathetically.

Glancing back at Shikamaru and Shino, who were just straggling to their seats, Sasuke said, "Next time, we'll do thirteen."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed, but after a moment, he nodded. "Next time," he agreed.

"Well count _me_ out!" Kiba declared, to Choji's agreement. After Shino collapsed into a seat at the end of the row, Shikamaru studied the Uchiha heir thoughtfully, then gave a small nod to himself, leaving a single space between himself and Shino.

Before the Aburame boy could wonder what it signified, Sasuke had turned back and spotted it - then nearly collapsed into it, leaving no room for Ino and Sakura. The pair glared at the shadow-user briefly, and he gave them an unimpressed, cool gaze in return.

"Well, since you're supposed to be in charge," Ino groused, "what's the plan for tomorrow? Asuma-sensei said we have the day off - so you and Sasuke-kun are doing another training exercise, right?"

"Yeah, something like that," Shikamaru sighed. "Well... First of all, _you_ have to learn the cipher that Sakura came up with."

"Don't we all?" Hinata wondered.

"Naruto gets a pass for tomorrow," Shikamaru allowed, nodding at Senzo when the old man came around and set a cup of tea before each of the new arrivals. "He's playing the role of all of the bad guys, so not knowing the cipher works to our advantage, doesn't it?"

"N...Naruto-kun is going to be our opponent again?" Hinata ventured uncertainly.

"Not like anyone else can give us a whole army to practice against," Kiba agreed, shrugging.

Naruto grinned at that. "That sounds fun!" he cheered. "When are we going to start?"

"After today, I am sleeping in tomorrow," Shikamaru groaned. "And I need to go do some really boring paperwork and figure out how much space we have to practice."

"Can't we just go to a training ground and use it until someone kicks us out?" Choji wondered, frowning.

"Or we could use my family's land," Shikamaru countered. "Then no one will kick us out, because I've got my father's permission."

Sasuke grunted and nodded at that.

"Oh," Choji said, more quietly.

"Anyway ... we can meet up at Kurenai's normal meeting spot after lunch," Shikamaru declared. "Naruto, we can meet up a bit earlier to discuss strategy, alright?"

"T...then the rest of us should meet with Sakura to learn the cipher?" Hinata asked nervously.

Shikamaru hesitated. He was still worn out from the run, and even with a chance to sit still and drink tea, Shino was exhausted as well.

"That's no problem!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed happily.

Of course ... for what they were planning, they needed Hinata's help - and to somehow keep Naruto in the dark on this. Well, given what Shikamaru had already said, Shino offered, "It would be more efficient if someone else were to handle the paperwork while you and Naruto prepared for the day's exercise."

Shikamaru nodded. "Right," he agreed. "In that case, Hinata, how about you and Shino-kun handle that, while Naruto-kun and I prepare? Everyone else can get started with Sakura."

"Ah ... okay," Hinata agreed, nodding.

Everything seemed to be ready, then... Shino could hardly wait to finish eating and crawl home. There he could burrow beneath the covers of his bed and recuperate until the next day - training was nothing compared to what they were planning, after all.

* * *

Not for the first time, Jiraya wondered what the future held for him. He wasn't precisely _old_, but he wasn't young, either. He knew from watching his own sensei how age made its mark on ninja - wore down all but the truly great. S-rank techniques were faster than the inevitable march of time, but jutsu at least could be evaded or countered.

He was probably lucky that he didn't suffer worse than some minor aching in his joints on occasion, but that was something that would undoubtedly change. Time was still wearing on, after all; it wore down all, bit by bit. Sarutobi was still 'the Professor', but the last time Jiraya had talked to him in person ... after the death of Jiraya's own best student...

Perhaps it was just that night in particular, but he'd felt they'd _all_ aged, taken critical blows from time that would have been better avoided. Then there were questions, why should the old men live, while such a promising rising star in the ninja world be extinguished?

Except, realistically ... the Toad Sage already knew the answer to that. It was _because_ S-rank jutsu or even less flashy but more sure assassination techniques were faster.

He sighed moodily, shifting slightly in the steaming hot-spring.

A nearby hum and splash drew his attention to another of time's victims - an old friend Jiraya traveled with long ago. The older man had once been a guardian ninja, long since retired, but contemplated the floating game-board resting in the spring between them.

Their surroundings were a fairly high-class hot-spring not _that_ far from Konoha, one that Jiraya particularly liked - their specific rented spring was deserted except the pair of them, and being situated on top of a hill, didn't have privacy barriers. Instead, the spring ran right to a reinforced - but very low - stone wall on the edge of the hill, where it abruptly sloped down, almost in a cliff.

"It is just a bonus that there are pretty girls in the pool below," the other man mused, eyes twinkling as he fished a piece from his side of the board.

Well, he was _right_, but this time of day there wasn't much of a view to enjoy.

Sitting up, Jiraya took a tall cup from the floating tray. Jasmine tea wasn't his _favorite_, but he could humor a longtime friend.

"Your move, Jiraya," the other man announced.

Grunting, the Toad Sage adjusted his towel and sat up to study the board more closely. While the former guardian ninja was clever, and a good - if not master - strategist, he had a fondness for using the same strategy every time.

"White lotus again?" he chuckled softly. "Alright, Iroh, let's see," he mused, rummaging through the pile on his own side of the board before both of them stopped, looking up.

"A friend for you," Iroh sighed, settling back and stroking his beard.

Jiraya frowned and nodded, turning to where he had senses another presence. "Who is it?" he asked.

"A pretty girl?" Iroh wondered.

In response, an unfamiliar Konoha ANBU stepped from between a passing streamer of steam and the leaves of the one tree lining the hot-spring. The figure strode unhesitatingly across the top of the hot-spring, and then bent low, holding out a scroll marked with the Hokage's seal.

The former guardian ninja busily pretended not to notice, studying the board intently, while Jiraya scowled, taking the scroll.

The ANBU - bear mask - dissipated into chakra... Shadow clone? Didn't matter, though.

If the approach were _that_ blatant, either it was someone who recognized Iroh and judged him to be trustworthy, or the message was truly desperate. Cracking the seal open, mindful of dropping the scroll into the water, the Toad Sage skimmed through it. He doubted it was about his godson - _that_ he would know about ... or at least, he liked to _think_ he would. He was overdue for an update on the kid's progress anyway, but-

"Shit," he groaned.

"Something more severe than tea can assist with?" Iroh sighed sympathetically.

Jiraya nodded, dunking the scroll in the spring briefly - the paper was treated, and so dissolved almost instantly, taking the message with it. "Our greatest enemy is on the march," he explained.

"Time does have that habit of never truly stopping," Iroh mused. "Well, we must meet again, Jiraya - good luck on your travels."

Grinning, Jiraya rose, nodding at his friend. "We'll see if I can't actually win a few rounds of pai sho next time," he chuckled, before heading to the changing room. "Take care, Iroh! Send that nephew of yours my regards."

"Glad to!" the older man agreed with a hearty laugh. "He is a hot-head, but I expect he will do quite well!"

The Toad Sage's smile didn't last, once his friend was out of sight.

"Hang on, Sensei," he whispered, changing into his normal outfit and biting his thumb to draw blood. Of course, the message wasn't _just_ about Sarutobi. It also involved one particular bastard that Jiraya would loved to have strangled - slowly, if it weren't for the fact that the faster he died, the better.

...he had a strange thought, and hoped for Tsunade's sake that she was having a better time of it than he was.

* * *

"Aaand ... player wins!" the dealer declared, after flipping over her last card. He was a relatively handsome man, she supposed. He was smiling at her like he expected it to carry some sort of extra weight behind it, or really impress her, at least. That probably should have meant something.

Instead of continuing to stare at him, her eyes dropped to the felt-covered table where her cards lay - queen, two, nine. To one side was her pile of chips, built up a little after the unexpected string of wins. Her accounts would see that she got another lump sum in a week or two, but she rarely won. She could keep betting until she did lose it all, she supposed, but what was the point in that?

She sighed, shaking her head. "Might as well quit while I'm ahead," she judged.

Half-turning to the woman who attended her as always, clutching her pig to her chest, Tsunade wryly asked, "You want to try _your_ luck? Or should we just call it a day?"

"No, Tsunade-sama," Shizune returned, looking - if anything - relieved that the blonde's interest in further gambling at the moment was waning.

"In that case, I'm out," she allowed, turning back to the dealer, who had swept her cards up and begun to reshuffle them.

His eyebrows rose, and he gave a smile that was probably supposed to be inviting. She tuned him out as Shizune swept up the remaining chips. Scanning around, Tsunade briefly entertained the thought of trying another game - the casino certainly had enough of them.

There were really less patrons than hosts at the current hour, but still enough to keep the entire room faintly hazed with smoke, and a constant but muted buzz of conversation. She laced her fingers together and put her hands behind her head, stretching as she ambled slowly toward the entrance. The manager was still smiling at her - probably would keep doing that until she had to borrow some money, or a debt collector warned him how much she owed elsewhere.

She managed a grunt and an absent nod as she passed him on the way out, the pair of burly door guards - fragile, charming little things, considering they weren't even ninja - also bowing politely. Them she largely ignored, though Shizune politely bowed back.

In the street, she raised her arms over her head, letting her fingers unlace as she stretched a bit further, finally popping an annoying kink - splenius cervicus muscle; she needed to actually get around to spending some time limbering up in the mornings again - before sighing and scanning the street. It was dusty and dry, but that didn't stop the peddlers and various workers from bustling about importantly.

It was almost enough to prompt her to turn around and go back into the casino.

Instead, she rummaged through her pocket, producing a small pouch of coins. Shizune looked briefly annoyed - she'd probably end up managing to get a hold of it before it was completely emptied. She almost always did.

"Let's rest at the inn, see if we can't find a hot-spring," she mused.

"Certainly," Shizune agreed.

She didn't bother mentioning the part about sake, but before she could complete that particular thought, she felt a shift in chakra and stopped, staring forward dully. Shizune caught it too, looking cautious but not on-guard. A Konoha ninja strode down the center of the street - a pair of them actually.

It took her a moment to place the man - he was supposed to be a fairly famous and skilled shinobi, followed by a pretty little thing who... Something about her seemed familiar, but she pushed it to the side, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at him expectantly.

He stopped a few paces before her and gave a disarming smile, even behind that stupid mask. One of his eyes was covered with his hitai-ate, but she knew how _that_ procedure worked - medial rectus and lateral rectus reattachment with foreign chakra; tricky. A steady hand alone wouldn't be enough for that; it'd take a skilled or reckless medical-nin to do it. Of course, it wasn't without precedent, but-

"What do you want?" she asked sourly, furrowing her brow. Kakashi - that was his name. Hatake Kakashi.

"Tsunade-sama," he said in a friendly voice, one hand rising to scratch the back of his head in feigned schoolboy nervousness. "Well ... it seems that the Hokage has asked for your help, and-"

"Fuck off," she overrode him without hesitation, uncrossing her arms and stepping around him, resuming her march down the street.

Shizune winced, ducking her head before scurrying to catch up. The shinobi's wince and hesitant, "Is that ... so?" were expected. The kunoichi's snort of laughter was not, and Tsunade found herself glancing at her again-

Blank pupils. Blood limit? She didn't know of a kekai genkai that matched; those weren't Hyuuga eyes. Some other blood limit, perhaps? Tsunade doubted she cared, but something about that woman...

"Is there anything in particular you'd like passed onto the Hokage?" Kakashi tried, which prompted the kunoichi with him to snort.

"I hope the old fart's doing well," she tossed over her shoulder.

"That's it?" the woman at Kakashi's side wondered.

Tsunade turned to glare at her - but her attention was on Kakashi, not the sannin. Shizune looked anxious, glancing between Tsunade and the Konoha-nin uncertainly. Kakashi looked away. "Guess so," he allowed wearily. Realizing Tsunade was still regarding them, Kakashi offered another faked nervous smile and bowed. "Sorry for bothering you," he said, more brightly. "But if there's nothing else, I suppose I should hurry back to my students!"

The onetime sannin grunted in response, frowning. Why would Konoha send a _teacher_ after her... And why the pair of them?

"Wait," Tsunade allowed, irritated that she was letting herself get as distracted as she had. "Why did they send _both_ of you?"

"I just tagged along for the hell of it," the woman supplied, before Kakashi could answer.

Tsunade stared at her blankly.

"You know, fill out my collection of sannin I'd met? I'll give you points over Orochimaru, at least," she added, shrugging her shoulders.

A flinch there; subtle, but evident. An old tear or scarring of the trapezius muscle. Something, though ... not a real injury, but a remembered one? Tied to _that_ name?

"You?" she asked doubtfully, raising her eyebrows. "How do _you_ know him, anyway?"

"What, were you and my old teacher close?" she asked.

Tsunade recognized _those_ cues of posture. Defensive; old scars, few of them physical. Orochimaru? And a _living_ student, still an active Konoha-nin?

"Must be a real bitch working for Konoha with that kind of background," Tsunade drawled thoughtfully. "What'd he do to your neck, anyway?"

_That_ flinch would have been caught by a civilian, and Tsunade resisted a smirk of triumph. "T...Tsunade-sama," Shizune mumbled ineffectually.

The woman hesitated, seemingly torn between retorting and actually responding before shrugging and stepping closer to Tsunade, not at all hesitant to pull out the collar of her outfit and show off the seal.

Seals weren't really her thing - that was Jiraya, and he'd gotten into it much more after... "Huh," she allowed. It didn't look _good_, in any case. "More than skin deep, huh?"

It was Orochimaru's work, so who knew how devious it could ultimately be? Something in the blood? A mark on the chakra? The soul itself? Seals could do crap like that.

"Yeah," the kunoichi answered quietly. She let the collar snap back over the curse seal. "But what do you care, anyway?"

"Better question is why you still care about Konoha - they probably give you crap and can't help you - so why stick with 'em?" Tsunade retorted.

Behind her, Kakashi sighed, glancing to one side as a trio of brutes rounded the corner, led by a gaunt man with a satchel. Shit ... debt collectors already. Like she didn't have _enough_ problems.

"I can dislocate every joint in my body, but I'm still not _quite_ flexible enough to actually crawl _into_ the bottle," she replied. "What's your secret?"

Shizune heaved her own sigh, one hand rising to cover her eyes. "Tsunade-sama," she whimpered, her other arm clutching her piglet tighter - the damn thing made her look like a petulant child with a favorite stuffed toy!

"More bitterness and loss," Tsunade snapped, her temper rising. "So sorry your sensei turned out to be the biggest asshole this side of Hanzo - it must be _terrible_ having to go through life without him!"

Something flashed in those blank eyes, but the ninja grit her teeth and adopted a smile more blatant than Kakashi's mask.

"Lovely weather today," Kakashi remarked to Shizune. "Isn't it?"

"I...it would be hard to ask for nicer," Shizune moaned, not as capable of pretending to be oblivious and enjoy the scene.

"Well, since Anko and Tsunade-sama seem to be having such a ... pleasant discussion ... how about you and I have a little chat of our own with that group?" Kakashi posed, inclining his head toward the irate debt collector.

"Sounds ... wonderful," Shizune managed, looking like she'd rather do anything else - except continue waiting within earshot.

"Somehow, I get by, and manage not to run away from my problems, either," Anko mused.

Tsunade really wanted a counter for that, but the debt collectors alone pretty much foiled any meaningful retorts on _that_ count.

"Let me give it to you straight, little girl," the sannin ground out. "I could kick your ass so soundly you'd never know what hit you - only the fact that you've had to put up with some shit on your own gives you _any_ sympathy. Don't give me crap about turning my back on a village that's done absolutely nothing for me."

"Yeah? Because funding your nation-wide binge doesn't count for anything?" Anko retorted. "Just because _I_ got fucked over didn't mean that I decided to pass the blame on- Even if the dreams I had as a little girl were shattered, that doesn't mean I can't have a _new_ dream."

"One involving twisting knives, no doubt."

"That doesn't even scratch the surface - but it's still _something_," Anko snapped. "What have _you_ got, other than running away from your problems?"

"It's not like anything is going to _change_-" She cut off as Shizune hurried over, eyes wide. "Can't you see we're having a moment, here?" Tsunade snapped. And why did Kakashi look so pleased with himself?

In the background, the debt collector stood with crossed arms, glaring as though _he_ somehow had power over the situation... Well, even if she _could_ just snap him in half with the flick of a finger, it would only cause more trouble than it was worth, so in a way, as much as it pissed her off ... he was right. Damn it all!

The day had started off so much better than this!

"Tsunade-sama, these men ... have agreed to a deal," Shizune offered hesitantly. "Um, that is ... in exchange for a favor..." She trailed off for a moment.

Tsunade felt one eyebrow twitch. What kind of 'favor'? Shizune would know better than to pass on a request for 'ninja' work. Even _medical_ aid was something she only rarely consented to actually do ... but that usually wasn't for money, and ... well, these days couldn't even involve blood, or else Shizune would have to do the work herself. Anything else, Tsunade would probably make an exception and actually follow through on hitting the smug little bastard.

"What?" she growled. "And make it quick - I want to get a drink, already."

"By coincidence, I happen to have some money saved up," Kakashi mused absently, as though it was something that would just casually be mentioned. "If you could find it within yourself to visit with the Hokage, just for a moment, then I suppose for the sake of completing my mission, it wouldn't be so great a price to pay to cover those debts, would it?"

Tsunade's lip curled in disgust, and Shizune's eyes dimmed- Anko stared at Kakashi in something halfway between disdain and admiration - like she wasn't sure which way to go. The sannin bit back her rebuke, more out of sympathy for Shizune than anything else.

She _had_ racked up quite a debt. A reset on that, and all it cost was a visit to the Hokage? A two day detour before restarting her travels with a cleaner slate... She _was_ running low on casinos to hit up that weren't demanding she pay up on her losses. "Just for a moment?" she asked, glaring at the far-too-smug copy ninja. "And I don't have to _do_ anything?"

"Just listen to him for a few minutes," Kakashi said, as though he were agreeing instead of correcting her.

Shizune fidgeted uncomfortably, looking anxiously between Kakashi and Tsunade, squeezing Tonton so tightly that the sannin expected him to squeal in protest any moment.

...fuck it. Why not?

"Alright - let's just get this over with," Tsunade sighed, shaking her head. As much as she wanted to wipe the smug look from the debt collector's face when Kakashi turned and gave him a nod, she restrained herself, glowering at Anko. "The sooner I've seen the last of you, the better."

* * *

Hinata would much rather have been with Naruto than his other friends - she didn't dislike them, it was just ... that she liked Naruto better. Of course, she had gotten to enjoy breakfast with him, not _every_ day, but frequently. And that wasn't bad at all - the last time, he'd even had one of his bunshin cook for _her_!

Well ... he'd burnt it a bit, but that was fine; he'd agreed to let her show him how to do it properly next time. She still hadn't gotten to teaching him shunshin yet, so getting to teach him _something_ else would be nice.

In the meantime, while Shikamaru was meeting with Naruto, and the other genin in their group were working with Sakura's cipher, she had met Shino at the assigned location - both of them arriving exactly at time.

"Um, g...good morning," she greeted him, glancing around the largely empty area where they usually met with Kakashi.

"Indeed," he returned, his expression unchanging. She could see straight through him if she activated her byakugan, but she couldn't really read his face at all. Still ... he seemed to be a good ally of Naruto. "For this next step, I will assume Shikamaru-kun's guise," he explained.

She nodded uncertainly as he - without even making seals - unleashed a swarm of kikaichu from beneath his heavy coat. They had quickly enveloped him, and then in a shimmering wave of chakra, vanished, leaving him looking like Shikamaru.

She could still see through the genjutsu, but even to her eye it was exceedingly well done. Shino shifted his shoulders, adjusting his stance and sighing heavily. "Troublesome," he remarked to her. "Alright - let's check out those documents so we know where we're training."

Hinata hesitantly followed him, frowning. Shino absently laced his fingers together and placed both hands behind his head, walking at a leisurely pace toward the Hokage's tower. "Um, Shino-kun," she tried hesitantly, "why... Why are we doing this, instead of learning the cipher?"

"We do need to know the bounds of my family property correctly," he answered, shrugging. After glancing around, he added in a lower voice, "Though, you seem to have figured out there's more to it than that, hmm?"

"W...what's that?" she asked anxiously.

"There's no sense in hiding it from you, since it relies on your ability anyway," Shino answered softly, sounding much more like himself than Shikamaru - even if the appearance and mannerisms were well done. He was keeping a close watch on their surroundings, so she decided to do the same.

She caught a glimpse of Kurenai in a nearby alley, shaking her head at something as she turned away, down the street. Hinata frowned. "What do you mean?" she pressed.

"Naruto-kun doesn't know of any blood limit he possesses, but it seems that there may be something to him that we do not know," Shino explained quickly. "While we are on the surface looking for something simple, we wish to discover the nature of Naruto's parents from the death records vault, which is adjacent to the land ownership vault."

"I- Why not tell Naruto-kun?" she asked sharply, narrowing her eyes. She didn't like the idea of going behind his back at _all_!

"Simply, because he is a friend, and I would feel bad if there were nothing to be discovered, but we had gotten his hopes up," Shino answered without hesitation.

Hinata wasn't sure she liked that, still. On the _other_ hand ... even if the line felt rehearsed, it felt like the truth, too. Shino and Shikamaru _were_ the ones who had stuck with Naruto after he was blamed for what happened to Iruka. "We don't have permission to go into the death records vault, though," she said quietly. "So really ... you mean for _me_ to do it?"

Shino nodded in response.

That meant that _she_ would be the one who knew what - if anything - there was about Naruto. Did he really have a blood limit? She supposed if he did, it'd be something else he could try and train ... maybe something tied to that seal on his chest? "A...alright," she reluctantly agreed. "I'll do it ... for Naruto-kun."

The records hall was through one of the side-entrances to the Hokage's tower, and the pair of them marched through it. The room before the doorway leading to the actual record vaults held a desk, where an irate-looking jounin sat, pushing his dark glasses up and giving the pair a sharp glare.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked suspiciously.

"We came to double-check the actual limits of the family plot," Shino answered lazily, his expression capturing Shinosuke's typical relaxed indifferent. "Oh, yeah, I have a note from my father," he added, pulling a slip of paper from one pocket.

The jounin took the paper warily, giving it a close study. "Very well," he said, nodding. "You may go in - the door on the right, and be quick about it. Before either of them could take an extra step toward the doorway, he pointed at Hinata and added, "The note says nothing about you, so wait here, Hyuuga-san."

Hinata blinked, alarmed. There were seals on the walls that blocked her sight from where they stood - she'd have to get at _least_ through the doorway to try and peer through those walls. "Ah," she managed, frowning. "Um..."

Shino, too, looked stymied. "You mean I gotta try and find the documentation by myself?" he groaned.

"It's neatly organized; it'll take a minute at best. Now hurry up before-"

"Oh, yeah," another ninja said, sauntering out of the hallway. He was a very large man, his body marked with the same seals as Choji's - with more, actually. "Sorry, Ebi-chan, I was rearranging some things in another vault - knocked over the shelving for the land ownership records."

"What!?" 'Ebi-chan' screeched, turning in his seat to stare indignantly. "That was painstaking! How could you possibly-"

"Eh, charge me for the D-rank mission to get it sorted back up, Ebisu - I'm sorry," Choza said placatingly, putting his hands up. "In the meantime, these kids are going to be training with my son, too, today - so as a favor to me, let the girl help find the scroll, alright?"

"It's irresponsible to let a pair of genin dawdle in a record vault," Ebisu complained, scowling. "If I'm assigned this thankless duty, I intend to do it properly!"

"Okay, okay," Choza sighed, shaking his head. His eyes went to Shino, lingering for a while before moving back to Ebisu. "Since it's my fault, I'll take responsibility and watch over them while they find the proper scroll. I'm sure that with the three of us searching, we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

"Very well," Ebisu allowed, calming. "But please be more careful with the scroll cases in the future! And if anything _is_ out of place or damaged..."

"If the racks had enough space for a ninja to move between them properly, this wouldn't be an issue, you know," Choza countered, shaking his head. Beckoning the genin to follow him, he added, "Anyway... Good to see you again, Shikamaru-kun. Let's find that record, shall we?"

"Er... Uh, yeah," Shino agreed, a little surprised. "Thanks."

"Tell your father I sent my regards," Choza added, as the pair followed him into the room. Hinata lowered her byakugan to step through the seal, and then immediately began to bring it back up. Doing so without seals took a bit longer, but...

Once she entered the room, she blinked at how many scrolls there actually were. The walls were lined with racks to hold them, and more racks were freestanding - though, one had been knocked over, and spilled a great deal of them onto the floor.

Choza righted it and sighed. "I'm sure it's one of these," he said apologetically.

Shino hesitated a moment, then shook his head. "Let's start looking for it," he said with a shrug. Hinata realized he had been planning on using his kikaichu to search, but couldn't while Choza was watching. But then...

"Um... Is it ... okay if I use my byakugan to search?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

"Oh, that's probably fine," the large jounin agreed, one hand going to the rack of scrolls near the wall adjacent to the death records. "Should make this much faster. These aren't particularly classified anyway."

Hinata nodded, putting more chakra into her technique, no longer worried about the telltale signs. There were seals around some specific rooms - but not the one she was looking into. Technically, most of those vaults required chunin rank and filling out forms to access, but...

So many scrolls to try and scan through! The flood of characters momentarily overwhelmed her when she tried to take in the death records, but she quickly narrowed her focus. All she needed was to find Naruto's family name. She started her search on the space just behind Choza's hand - and almost immediately found what she was looking for.

The name of a woman ... Uzumaki Kushina? There was a nickname, too - she had been killed when the kyubei had attacked Konoha, all those years ago. A note explained that she was Naruto's mother, as well, but no father was listed at all. There was something else about a special ability - a blood limit, after all? Something about 'chakra chains'.

She could have looked further, seen if there were any others with that name, but she was doing something dangerous as it was, and that scroll already explained that Kushina _was_ Naruto's mother. Since Choza was still watching her and Shino expectantly, she committed that single scroll to memory to consider later, and then turned her attention to the scrolls on the floor, looking for Shikamaru's family name instead.

"Ah, um ... here," she declared, finding the scroll they were supposed to be looking for.

Well ... she'd found _something_ to tell Naruto... What did it all really mean, though?

* * *

Sasuke didn't really consider any of the other genin he was teamed up with as friends - but then, he didn't _have_ to. They were still his _team_. While it would be convenient to not need a team, just ignoring them wasn't a real option. But as Kakashi had pointed out ... he could still benefit from them.

He could _also_ berate them for weak spots that would get them killed and slow them down.

Shikamaru was probably someone that Sasuke could take down easily, if he had to. While Naruto had beaten Sasuke in their last fight, the young Uchiha thought he could probably take him down, now, too.

With the pair of them working together, throwing out hordes of clones following the lazy boy's plans, Sasuke felt pressured - that he was working harder than he had to against anyone except for Bastard-sensei.

If he was being _challenged_, then he was learning where and how he could _improve_. As much as he might have enjoyed training by himself, he found he really did have to coordinate with the others.

It wasn't much, but Ino was getting halfway decent at knowing when a horde of Naruto's clones were going to burst out from the bushes. Not perfect, but when she focused, there was enough warning for her to get behind him, while Choji covered their rear.

Sakura's code-phrases weren't hard to learn, and Ino, despite her resentment of the other girl, had picked them up quickly enough. Choji seemed to have followed them, as well - which was good. The theme of this particular exercise was fighting their way to a house that Shikamaru's family owned in the middle of a densely wooded area.

This left plenty of cover, but they needed to try and keep any of the bunshin from notifying one-another that they'd had contact with the enemy.

So far, Sasuke was confident that they'd managed to take out all of the clones before they could notify anyone else. Of course, from what Sasuke knew about the technique, that meant that Naruto himself knew what was going on.

Not that he had a lot of time to contemplate that, as every encounter meant that the bunshin they were fighting were using Naruto's improving taijutsu and throwing skills. Sasuke was still better at both, but that didn't help when three or four bunshin were all focusing on him.

One or two would-be lethal strikes thinned the number of clones out, and Choji picked up any stragglers that could catch Ino while she was trying to keep a sense of where any incoming bunshin might be coming from. It worked, and he had to admit, his plan of pairing up with the two who _seemed_ weakest had worked out much better than anticipated.

He'd expected to do the lion's share of the work himself, but those two were able to carry their weight after all.

He expected that the groups of Kiba and Hinata, and Sakura and Shino would likewise be doing fine. Kiba was decent at taijutsu, and the pair of them wouldn't be surprised between Akamaru's nose and Hinata's eyes. Shino and Sakura might have a tougher time of it, but Shino didn't have any glaring weaknesses (even if he didn't seem to have any spectacular strengths, either), and Sakura...

Well, she was weak, but she was _smart_. She was probably the weakest link, but if she'd come up with the cipher she had, he suspected that she'd come up with another plan, as well.

The story of their 'mission' was simple. Just like the last time, they had to find their way to the enemy base, and rescue a princess. Naruto had evidently made a bunshin for the role this time, as Kiba kept Akamaru with him. Also just like last time, they had to avoid letting the 'enemy' know they were coming or else there would be more guards.

Choji was not the world's stealthiest ninja, but Sasuke didn't particularly mind. That just gave him an excuse to fight more of Naruto's bunshin, since stealth wasn't usually an option. Even if the overall training goal weren't to get in a lot of fights, if he could get more of _that_ practice in, he wasn't going to complain.

"S...sorry," Choji said, bowing his head, after clearing the last round of attackers. He was scratched on one arm from a thrown kunai; Sasuke couldn't fault him. His own shirt was torn in at least three places, even though he'd avoided actually getting injured. Ino was unscathed, thanks to the cover they were providing her - but she was paying off in terms of detection.

So Sasuke just grunted and gave a mild shrug, indifferent to the apology, and not seeing a reason to go into it. "Anyone else nearby?" he asked Ino intently, before turning to scan himself.

"I ... don't think so," she whispered, before jerking upright, and turning to stare behind them.

Sasuke leaped to a nearby tree branch in a crouch, kunai at the ready as Choji turned, covering Ino defensively with his own kunai drawn.

Melting into visibility from the leaves, Shino lit on a branch at Sasuke's height, while Sakura slipped out from behind a shrub.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, looking back over his shoulder. The clearing could just be made out through the trees from their current position, so he dropped down to the ground. He didn't need the position for attack, and it increased visibility. "What are you two doing here?" he asked doubtfully.

"We have examined the perimeter," Shino announced, adjusting his spectacles.

Sasuke furrowed his brow. He'd expected his own group would have made the best time, since they were heading out in a straight line. There _was_ the possibility that they were actually Naruto's bunshin under henge, he supposed ... but if that were the case, then Naruto had to have known where they were already.

It was easy enough to test. "No sign of bastardry?" Choji asked, mildly surprising Sasuke by invoking one of Sakura's code phrases - a simple one.

Sakura smiled, puffing up slightly with pride at her code being used, and returned, "Naruto doesn't have exploding tags, so of course not."

"How did you get here and check things out so quickly?" Sasuke pressed.

"We just snuck past everyone," Sakura answered.

Sasuke scowled internally. He'd lost that much time fighting?

"Ultimately, the house is defended by patrolling guard groups," Shino said. "So we made good time, but had to fall back rather than risk discovery. The forest is largely irrelevant; the true challenge is getting past the guards."

Nodding, the Uchiha rocked back on his heels and contemplated. "How many groups? And how many in them?" he probed.

"Eight groups of varying size," Sakura answered. "The smallest is two, and the biggest is four."

Choji frowned, while Ino put her hands on her hips. "Well, what's the trick to it, then?" she asked in irritation. "Shikamaru and Naruto just came up with something we can't beat?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at that, looking ready to chide the other boy. Since an argument would draw unwanted attention from the patrolling guards, Sasuke interrupted, "Any idea where Hinata and Kiba are?"

Shino gave a curt nod. "I do," he answered.

"Let's meet up with them," Sasuke determined.

Shino nodded again, and then the whole group of them slunk along until Shino indicated a pair of low shrubs, which one of Naruto's patrols had just passed - a trio of guards. They could take them out easily, but that particular group kept ducking in and out of the forest; their absence would be noticed quickly.

Kiba popped out from the underbrush and eyed the others suspiciously. "What?" he asked, though he kept his voice low. "Stuck on getting through?"

"I have a plan, but it needs all of us to pull it off," Sasuke countered.

"Alright, what's your dog-damned stroke of genius?" Kiba sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sasuke explained, "That group that's going in and out of the woods? The next time their route comes through here, all of us jump them as quietly as we can; Kiba, myself, and Choji will do the take-down. While we're doing that, Shino, Hinata, and Sakura henge into them and take over their patrol."

Everyone blinked at this, Ino still pouting.

"Ino will keep an eye out for any other incoming enemy," he continued. "Then we wait for a full lap of the patrol; Sakura will switch out with Ino when they get back. We pool our info and figure out the best approach based on the patrol pattern from there."

Kiba scratched his chin. "And then what?" he pressed, shaking his head. "We take down some guys and then pretend to be them - and just watch and wait?"

"Yes," Shino agreed, before Sasuke could even answer. "Like real ninja."

That prompted the Inuzuke to bite back his next retort and roll his shoulders in a shrug, though everyone paused to look around them for incoming explosive tags. "...it's only half a plan if it's just 'get more info.'"

"You have something better in mind?" Choji asked sympathetically. "Because I don't."

"Fine!" he whined petulantly, kicking the ground with one foot. "Let's just get into position and do this."

Sasuke nodded tightly as everyone prepared for the patrol's return.

* * *

As someone who was more of a follower than a leader, Choji didn't mind following Sasuke's plan. If he could keep Kiba from starting a fight over it and keep the plan running smoothly, so much the better. It was short work for the group for Choji, Sasuke, and Kiba to take them out. Shino, Hinata, and Sakura used their henge to take on the guard's appearances before resuming their patrols.

After a period of tense waiting, they circled back around, evidently unnoticed, and Sakura switched with Ino, breathlessly relating everything that she'd observed.

Sasuke explained, "There are two guards in one of the smaller patrols - there's a window where they line up right to only be in sight of the group we've replaced. Sakura, you and I will henge as them, and during that window, we'll use kawarimi - Choji, Kiba, take them out as soon as they get here. Once that's done, the next rotation that they line up, we can rush into the opening and use the house for cover; we won't have much time, so Choji and Kiba, you two grab Ino and go after the enemy bosses.

"Before that, when Hinata comes back here, she needs to find out where the princess is; we have to reach her as close to the same time we confront the enemy 'warlord' as possible. Sakura, you'll be in charge of handling that once the time comes - you, and Hinata, work together on that. Understood?"

"Yes!" Sakura said excitedly, nodding quickly.

"What about you?" Kiba whined. "You're just sitting back?"

Sasuke snorted, shaking his head. "Shino and I will be going around and engaging the rest of the patrols to keep them off your back - and from reaching the house," he answered. "Now, we have to work together to get the plan to everyone - let's go."

Sakura and Sasuke were both good enough at kawarimi to do the replacement with the unwitting guards. The first was tackled by Kiba, silenced almost instantly with a kunai across the throat, leaving only a puff of chakra smoke behind.

The other guard leaped to one side, dropping his spear and fumbling for something else before Choji's grasp captured him.

Then it was just a matter of squeezing - first the breath out of the clone, and one good shake caused it to fumble and drop the whistle it had been reaching for. Then ... Choji guessed Naruto's bunshin chose to dispel, recognizing defeat, rather than wait for enough damage to be done. Choji was secretly grateful for that; he didn't like the idea of Naruto remembering him trying to kill the excitable boy.

They had been good friends, and Choji couldn't see any reason they wouldn't be again.

Repeated memories of being crushed or pummeled into oblivion could be one such reason, though. This wasn't like their frequent sparring sessions, after all.

Akamaru trotted back proudly from where he had landed in Kiba's brief combat, a dropped kunai held in his teeth.

"Good _boy_!" Kiba exclaimed, still keeping his voice low, grinning fiercely at his furry partner as he knelt, so the dog could jump back to his usual perch.

Only once he was comfortable on Kiba's head did he drop the kunai, which Kiba caught and pocketed absently.

"Uh ... nice work," Choji said belatedly.

"You, too," Kiba allowed with a grudging nod. "Ticks me off that it's always Sasuke or Shikamaru barkin' out orders ... but I guess it's _a_ plan."

"I think we might win, this time," the Akimichi added hopefully.

* * *

As nerve-wracking as the entire thing was, Sakura was practically glowing - once Sasuke's plan let them gather more information, the rest of the group had managed their roles well. Not exactly _flawlessly_, but well enough - Hinata's byakugan was able to pinpoint the hostage before the executioners reached her. That was accounted for in Sasuke's plan, though, so no surprise there!

For whatever reason, Naruto _himself_ was merely disguised as the 'princess'. Actually, considering how dangerous he was encouraging the others to be, that made sense; though she hadn't seen it, she guessed that Choji and Kiba would probably easily disperse that bunshin, and possibly actually hurt Naruto.

A disturbingly pretty and feminine Naruto batted her eyelashes at her 'rescuers', praising, "My _heroes_!" and glomping Hinata and Sakura in a hug, after the last 'executioner' dispersed.

"S-stop that!" Sakura complained, pushing Naruto off her. Hinata, of course, didn't seem to mind at all.

Naruto pouted at Sakura briefly, then grinned, shrugging as the rest of the genin looked into the room of Shikamaru's - evidently _spare_ - home. It must be nice to be from an established clan, Sakura thought.

Seemingly not noticing Hinata still hanging onto her, Naruto cheered, "Good job rescuing me, everyone! I'm totally safe, now!"

Something about that... "Where's Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, frowning.

"O-oh, he's-" Hinata started before cutting off with an alarmed squeak - Naruto's hug kept Hinata's arms at her side as Shikamaru rolled out from under the bed and to his feet in a single fluid motion, and then smoothly tapped the back of Naruto's head with the grip of his kunai.

"Ack!" Naruto exclaimed over-dramatically, collapsing in Hinata's arms. "I am slain!"

Kiba slapped his forehead with his palm. "But- But we _won_!" he protested. "That's- That's just _cheap_!"

Sasuke snorted. "Didn't you see him?" he asked the Hyuuga girl.

"I- I thought he was just staying out of harm's way!" she protested, shaking her head. "I didn't..."

"Relax," Shikamaru drawled. "The point isn't about 'winning' or 'losing'. It's about learning how to deal with enemies. So, yeah, we used a dirty trick at the end - the point is-"

"-that it won't happen again," Sasuke completed.

"Right," Shikamaru agreed, nodding as Naruto came back from the dead and released his henge.

"That was _so lame_!" Ino protested. "I mean-"

"I think that Bastard-sensei would be even less kind," Shino noted. "The exercise was educational. Through coordination and teamwork, we have all fared much better than we have last time. Note that our foes improved their own efforts and coordination as well."

Sasuke's arms crossed over his chest as he stared wordlessly. Sakura frowned. "But, if Hinata didn't think you were just hiding so you didn't get hurt when we fought your bunshin, you wouldn't have gotten past her," she remarked. "Is that really fair?"

"Probably not," Shikamaru answered, shrugging. "Exactly how often do you expect your enemies to be 'fair', though? Even Naruto giving you a hug was part of it - a civilian target won't always work in their best interests. They don't know better."

"But we're really done, now, so you can let go of me, Hinata-chan," Naruto added with a smile.

"A-ah," she managed, letting go of him and stepping back, cheeks red. "S-sorry..."

Shino and Shikamaru exchanged a glance at that, before both shook their heads. Before anyone else could comment, Sasuke commented, "Naruto, your taijutsu has gotten better. Those guards were more of a challenge than last time."

"I _am_ pretty awesome," the blonde agreed, grinning hugely and putting his arms up behind his head, like Shikamaru frequently did. "You're getting sneakier, too!"

Sasuke grunted at that, waving a hand to dismiss the comment. "I want to duel you again," he stated flatly.

Sakura couldn't help herself; along with the other genin, she sucked in a breath, looking between the two anxiously.

Naruto's expression had darkened, going from his somewhat goofy grin to a scowl as he stared intently into the Uchiha's glower. "Alright," he agreed abruptly, uncrossing his arms-

"Time-out," Shikamaru insisted adamantly, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You two - out of the house. Take this to the training area - we put the house at enough risk for this exercise anyway."

"Ah, right," Naruto realized belatedly, while Sasuke gave a curt nod.

It didn't take long to get to the small collection of posts that was maintained for training by ... well, it had to be _some_ member of Shikamaru's family. Possibly the boy himself.

Sakura shook her head. "Don't be too rough with him, Sasuke-kun!" she encouraged. As much as she wanted to root for Sasuke, and Naruto could withstand a thrashing ... somehow it was a lot harder to want to see him beaten up, regardless of what she'd said when she found out about Iruka.

"You can do it, Sasuke-kun!" Ino echoed.

Kiba crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head as the pair took up positions, facing one-another. "What's the point of this?" he scoffed. "Naruto beat Sasuke last time!"

Naruto puffed up faintly at that, as Hinata hesitantly called, "Y-you can do it, Naruto-kun!"

"With a dirty trick!" Sakura couldn't help herself from countering.

She bit her tongue as Shikamaru gave her a look that seemed to ask if she remembered the point of the 'princess' being assassinated when they had thought she mission was a success.

Ino looked about ready to spit something similar out before instead sniffing and turning her attention to Sasuke.

There wasn't any signal, that Sakura could see. Naruto raised his hands to form seals at the same time as Sasuke. In an explosion of chakra, Naruto was surrounded by a team of his clones, and Sasuke was surrounded by his own illusionary counterparts. A storm of shuriken and kunai flew between them, eradicating half of the dozen clones Naruto had summoned before they clashed.

Just as they would have met, Sasuke raised his hands again - Sakura gasped, eyebrows rising. She'd caught it just before Sasuke barreled into one of Naruto's bunshin, but the Uchiha had used henge to turn into _Naruto_.

Shino gave an abbreviated shake of his head as Shikamaru clicked his tongue before sighing. Very shortly what had seemed like it was going to be a spectacular battle turned into what looked like a mindless brawl between Naruto and a swarm of himself.

This was nowhere near as clever as when Naruto had henged into Ino and Sakura. _That_ was impressive. _This_...

Still, bunshin couldn't take much damage, so in short order, the area was obscured with chakra smoke from the mass dispelling. Sakura put her hands on her hips, then turned to regard Hinata, who was staring intently not at the battlefield, but to the woods behind the training posts. Why would she...

Sakura realized what had really happened as the smoke cleared - revealing nothing at all. Well, Naruto not actually being in his crowd of mindless clones, that was fairly smart for him. But trust Sasuke to see through it and substitute himself out into the woods to hunt the real Naruto down after instigating a brawl!

Sure enough, by following the line of Hinata's gaze, Sakura was just in time to see Naruto fall from a tree-branch, tangled in wire and cursing fiercely. The Uchiha was poised above him, falling in time and holding the other ends of the wire in one hand, a kunai in the other. Naruto slammed to the earth loudly, hard enough that Choji winced, and Kiba's eyebrows rose.

Sasuke landed softly on his toes, smoothly sinking to his knees, the point of his kunai freezing abruptly above Naruto's throat, a small smile of victory on his lips.

"I knew you could do it!" Sakura cheered, thrusting one fist into the air.

"Go, Sasuke-kun!" Ino echoed, hopping up and down, clapping her hands.

Naruto's cursing cut off, through he continued to glower at Sasuke.

"Wait," Kiba started, staring in surprise. "So- That... They..."

Hinata frowned sharply, saying nothing, but intent on Naruto.

"Well, that was brief," Shikamaru remarked.

Standing, Sasuke released the wire and stowed his kunai. A casual wave of his hand untangled the wire, and Naruto popped to his feet, expression unchanged. "Not bad," Sasuke judged, before the blond could say anything.

"Sasuke-kun, let's practice together!" Ino called out, before Sakura could. "Teach me how to do that!"

Sakura protested, "No- Sasuke-kun, teach me!"

Naruto grimaced. "Whatever," he grumbled, stiffly marching toward Shikamaru and Shino.

"I'd rather practice with Naruto," Sasuke said, eying Ino and Sakura in turn. "You two aren't close to that level yet."

"I- Hey!" the pair protested in tandem.

"Practice with you?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Your wire work is still poor. Your throwing is getting better, but you've got a long way to go," he added.

"...alright," Naruto grudgingly agreed, nodding in return.

Ino pouted. "Give me another bunshin," she insisted. "I'm going to keep training on sensing!"

"Sure!" Naruto agreed a bit more brightly. "Anyone else?"

"Alright - who's up for taijutsu practice at my place?" Kiba asked.

"I'm going to pass," Shikamaru said with a shake of his head. "I wanted to ask Shino and Hinata about something."

"What's that?" Naruto asked. "Ah - I'll send a bunshin-"

Hinata's expression brightened at that, but Shino interrupted, "No need. You have an opportunity, and should take full advantage of it. Your focus will be rewarded."

The Hyuuga girl looked at Shino sharply. "But-"

"We can all meet up at Senzo's this evening," Shikamaru added.

Sakura pursed her lips as Naruto nodded. "Okay!" he said. Turning to Sasuke, he warned, "I'm going to use all my bunshin to focus on your throwing techniques!"

"I expect you to get better," Sasuke agreed, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "Come on."

The two walked off as Ino shook her head, dragging Naruto's bunshin with her and muttering to herself. "Better come up with something to keep yourself busy, forehead!" she called before stepping onto the path back to Konoha.

Oh, she'd come up with something, alright.

Kiba and Choji were already in discussion about their own upcoming practice as they followed. Sakura nodded, turning to regard Shikamaru, who was watching her expectantly.

"Well?" he prompted.

Seeing little point to being subtle, she bluntly asked, "What are you hiding from Naruto?"


	10. Chapter 10

Motivation

Chapter Nine

by Brian Randall

Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; these are his paints. Some tinting is borrowed from Rumiko Takahashi. The easel is mine, but that is all. No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story.

* * *

It wasn't as though he never returned to Konoha ... though he was more likely to just come close to it and use messengers. Being just outside of town let him communicate closely enough, and also avoid dealing with the nagging sense that even if he had a good excuse, he really should have helped keep a closer eye on his godson.

Then again, if he couldn't trust the Hokage and Konoha to do that, who could he?

Even though he'd been nearby, he couldn't help but grimace sourly at the sight of the walls - and more importantly, his best student's visage, staring stonily from the monument behind the Hokage's tower.

Sighing, he gave a curt nod to the ninja watching the gate, eyes widening fractionally in recognition, though they made no move to speak to him. At least he hadn't been gone so long no one recognized him anymore.

He didn't really have time to waste, though, and he was in town for a particular purpose - so that thought in mind, he made for the tower at a fast walk. He could have gone even faster, but as long as he'd taken already, there wasn't much point to that. The ANBU watching the tower didn't move to intercept him, and he quickly reached the door to the Hokage's office - the old man was hunched forward slightly, hands folded on the table before him as he stared at a number of short stacks of paperwork.

Shrugging, Jiraiya stepped in. "Sensei," he said warmly, glancing around. An ANBU with a bear mask idled in one corner, not bothering to conceal his presence, and Shikaku stood in the opposite corner with both hands clasped behind his back, staring out the wide windows and lost in thought. "Hmm, I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Nothing particularly important," Sarutobi said with a wearied sigh, sitting up and then leaning back. Jiraiya couldn't help but grimace at the old man's appearance. He was ... well ... _old_. The signs weren't nearly as obvious, the last time the Toad Sage had seen him - then again, as he had mentioned to Iroh, time did that...

"Well, I brought something that should help cheer you up, anyway!" he said brightly, grinning as he produced a copy of the latest Icha-Icha. The story wasn't his best work, but it got the job done. "This copy is signed, too - a special gift from me to you, Sensei! One of my proudest creations, no doubt about it!"

The Hokage cracked a grin at that, shaking his head ruefully, while Shikaku turned around to regard Jiraiya with a raised eyebrow. The ANBU said nothing, and Jiraiya couldn't help but jibe to him, "Would you like a copy, too?"

The voice from behind the bear mask was flat, un-inflected as it softly announced, "That title has been highly recommended by colleagues."

"Weeeell, why _wouldn't_ it be?" Jiraiya asked warmly. He turned around, closing the door, and in a conspiratorial tone said, "So, let me tell you about my designs for the _next_ book - I have a scroll here..."

The three Konoha ninja humored him quietly as he dropped a previously prepared scroll across the Hokage's desk. The old man looked on with some interest as the Toad Sage slapped one palm into the center of the array, charging it with chakra and activating the privacy seal.

"The book _is_ good, incidentally," Jiraiya added, his smile fading. "Some elements were more forced than I'd like, but I think it works."

Sarutobi shook his head. "I didn't summon you, myself - it was done because ... of what happened," he muttered. "Certain of those who work for me think they understand my health better than I do myself."

Even though the ANBU kept his mask in place and said nothing, Jiraiya got a distinct impression of him sending the old man a flat stare from behind the 'bear' symbol.

Jiraiya shook his head slightly. "I'm still watching out for him," he allowed, crossing his arms over his chest. Jerking his head at the ANBU, he raised one eyebrow in question.

"Both Shikaku and Tenzo know about your project," Sarutobi said quietly. "If I couldn't trust Shikaku for his help with this..."

"Right," Shikaku said with a nod. "How long will that seal last?"

"Days," Jiraiya said with a shrug. "It's meant for subtlety, though. It could be easily overpowered, but the point is to let us know if someone tries more than to shut anyone out. Someone who was very good at seals themselves could figure out a way around or through it without tripping it eventually - it's just something I slapped together to slow people down more than stop them. I'd say we have probably thirty minutes before we should suspect that someone who was as good as I am could start peeking through the edges. If someone's better than me, or were to just barge in through the windows and doors, then..." He shrugged again.

Jiraiya breathed out a long sigh, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to one side. "I'm still primarily trying to monitor a certain organization. My contact informs me that Orochimaru has parted ways with them - this should have been in the report from quite a while ago. Whatever the snake's doing, I don't have good insight into it- So what's the deal here, then?"

"Some sort of infiltration," Shikaku said, at the Hokage's gesture for him to explain. "It's deep - ANBU trainer position. Some sort of seal is placed on new ANBU tongues, preventing them from revealing who placed it there."

"Interesting," Jiraiya mused, straightening up and rubbing his chin. "Who knows, so far?"

"This room, my team - that's Inoichi and Choza - Morino Ibiki, and the one ANBU we found," Shikaku relayed quickly. "The Hokage says this ANBU is trustworthy."

"Yeah?" Jiraiya wondered, raising his eyebrows at the unfamiliar figure.

"Tenzo is a survivor of Orochimaru's experiments," the Hokage clarified.

Jiraiya made a note to look into that later and nodded. He really needed to be out and _doing_ things ... not stuck in Konoha. But the idea of letting that viper sneak in and undermine the village while he was busy elsewhere... "Do we have a copy of the seal?"

Sarutobi reached toward a desk drawer with a grim nod - before the privacy seal on the scroll abruptly burst into flames, just as the door slammed open hard enough to crack against the wall.

* * *

Shino resisted the urge to react outwardly and show his annoyance. Shikamaru's planning had seemed quite thorough, to him. It was a real question how Sakura had seen through it.

Shikamaru sighed and hung his head. "Really," he grumbled.

"Well?" Sakura pressed, putting her hands on her hips.

Hinata looked lost in thought, but that could be for any reason. The infiltration had gone so well, considering what they were really doing, until this point. Naruto probably wouldn't figure it out, at least, but if Sakura had, there could be others.

"What gave it away?" Hinata finally wondered, breaking from her distraction to stare at Sakura fixedly.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and Sakura smirked triumphantly. "We're all supposed to be learning to keep our eyes open," she said with a shrug. "You had to come up with an excuse _not_ to hang out with Naruto - and he can make a bunshin to hang out with you without putting any effort into it." She looked briefly annoyed at that, before shaking her head, putting her hands on her hips and fixing Shikamaru with a firm stare. "So - what is it? And if you don't tell me, I'll tell him you _are_ hiding something!"

Hinata's expression shifted to a scowl. "It's not bad!" she insisted. "It's _for_ Naruto-kun!"

"So," Shikamaru interjected thoughtfully, "you were only suspicious until Hinata gave it away?"

Sakura gave a shrug. "She just confirmed it," she explained.

Hinata's face fell. "O...oh..."

"Well, the plan was to disclose this information to Naruto-kun once we understood it," Shino said.

Lacing his fingers together behind his head, Shikamaru nodded. "Right - well, Sakura's sharp, and anyway, we don't seem to really have a choice in the matter, so let's bring her into the loop."

Sakura grinned and looked between them expectantly.

"We want to find out if Naruto's got a blood limit - and if there was any information on his family," the Nara boy explained. "So, Hinata and Shino-kun gathered some information on him."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "I've thought he might have a kekkai genkai, too," she agreed, frowning.

"What makes you believe this?" Shino wondered aloud.

"His henge is off, and he's got a ton of chakra, for one," Sakura offered. "But that doesn't explain why you would hide the fact that you were looking from _him_."

Hinata nodded thoughtfully. Shino shifted his shoulders; this was the stinging point in their explanation. But, it did raise a question, even if it wasn't one that had occurred to Shikamaru or Shino before. "How is his henge 'off'?" he wondered aloud.

"I...it's solid," Hinata explained tremulously, before Sakura could.

The other girl just nodded in agreement. "I've heard that takes either tons of practice, or some sort of inherited ability," she added.

"That might explain it, but Naruto doesn't know about his family," Shikamaru said quietly. "And there could be a very good reason for that, so we have to be careful. Otherwise, we'd just _ask_ him."

"Alright," she allowed grudgingly. "So ... what did you find out?"

Shikamaru shrugged and turned to Hinata expectantly.

"Ah- Naruto-kun ... I think I found his mother's death certificate," Hinata said cautiously. "Um ... it honestly ... seemed that Akimichi-san was ... trying to show me where to look for it..."

"Strange," Shikamaru mused, frowning. Shino guessed that the shadow-user would be trying to puzzle that out later. "Alright - what was on it?"

"She- She was a woman from Uzushiogakure - her name was Uzumaki Kushina. Um, her family was noted for ... some ability concerning 'chakra chains,'" Hinata explained cautiously.

"That's it?" Sakura wondered, already looking thoughtful. "Hey, I told you guys about Uzushiogakure! I wonder if that's why Naruto has that spiral patch on his outfit?"

"Perhaps," Shino allowed. "But he may also merely have copied the symbol from a jounin vest. In any case, if Naruto does not know of this place, he would not have intentionally chosen the design."

"Well, what else was there?" Shikamaru prompted curiously. "Anything about his father?"

"Um, no, there was no husband listed... Um, she wasn't married, she had a nickname, and she ... was killed by the Kyuubi almost immediately after she delivered a child," Hinata mumbled, frowning.

Sakura blinked slowly. "That's it?" she asked.

"It _was_ a death certificate, so other than the blood limit bit and surviving family, the rest would probably have been hidden or in other files," Shikamaru reasoned, frowning. "So, now we just need to find out about this 'chakra chain' ability, and if Naruto has it, as well."

"That seems reasonable," Shino agreed. "At that point, we can see if it is possible for us to help Naruto learn that new ability."

"Well, I have a hard time seeing Naruto as a fuinjutsu expert, which is what they were supposed to be really good at," Sakura agreed thoughtfully. "What was her nickname, anyway?"

"Um ... 'red hot habanero'?" Hinata asked, shifting her shoulders and not meeting anyone's eyes. "I don't ... know what that means, but her hair was red, in the report of her description, so maybe that's it?"

"It..." Shikamaru trailed off and looked at Sakura with a frown. The pink-haired girl had gone white as a sheet at that nickname for some reason. "What? You know that name?" he asked, frowning.

"I- I've read it," she managed, shaking. She turned her head slowly to stare at the Hokage monument. "But ... it couldn't be..."

Shino's eyebrows rose. Was it possible that thanks to her, some clue they'd have missed had turned up after all? Shikamaru looked torn between irritation and admiration; undoubtedly he was reconsidering his previous classification of the girl's abilities.

* * *

Until meeting Tsunade personally, Kakashi had never taken Anko for the 'cute and cuddly' type. When he mentioned it in a grumbling observation, carefully well outside of the sannin's earshot, Anko's snorted reply was to explain, "I'm only an A-rank bitch; I gotta admit she's out of my league, since I already played my best card. Us lesser bastards and whatnot have to stick together, right?"

He'd decided it wouldn't be a good idea to let that line of discussion continue. Even if he had earned it, the 'bastard-sensei' title wasn't actually something he enjoyed. Though he didn't mention it, Anko seemed to pick up on that and changed the subject herself.

The trip back to Konoha was one of the most tense journeys in his memory - though Tsunade's eagerness to get the entire thing over with had her keeping pace with the other ninja. Well, she _was_ one of the sannin, so they made good time, thanks to Shizune carrying the pig.

It was also possible that the blonde woman was just happy to run away from the debt collector; he really couldn't tell, and didn't want to ask.

What _did_ surprise him was that Tsunade didn't even slow down once she reached the gates. It was not an official policy, but was at least considered good form to walk through slowly enough that the guards could confirm identification before entering the village. Tsunade didn't care, and after dashing through the gate, leaped to a rooftop and made a line for the tower.

Not seeing much choice in the matter, Kakashi followed, warning the approaching ANBU away with hand-signs - though he was sure most of them would recognize her before pissing her off. Then again...

She at least had the courtesy to go through the doorway and march up the stairs. After the trouble it was to get her back, Kakashi didn't have it in him to protest the way she stormed up. She didn't even glance at the irate Danzo and his followers as the jounin at the door insisted that they couldn't get in - she was at least gentle enough to avoid breaking anything when she shoved him out of the way, and then kicked the door open.

"I'm here!" she barked, scowling at the interior of the room, pausing at the sight of Jiraiya looking over his shoulder in surprise, evidently in the middle of presenting the Hokage with a copy of Kakashi's favorite book.

Well, that earned the Toad sannin some credit, in Kakashi's mind; he'd never realized his favorite author and the legendary ninja were the same person. He'd have to get an autograph later.

"So you are!" Jiraiya exclaimed, hiding the book after a moment of belated realization. "How nice to see you again, Tsunade-hime!"

"Cut it-" she started, before Sarutobi coughed, staring at her with a frown.

"Tsunade," he said neutrally, inclining his head slightly. "I apologize for the inconvenience. Kakashi, Anko ... what precisely is going on, here?"

Kakashi rocked back on his heels, sighing, and wondering how to put it. "To use words to explain it..." he began slowly.

Anko obligingly offered, "Tsunade wasn't going to come, so he bribed her to appear by paying off her gambling debts."

Well, that would do it, he supposed. He offered his most disarming smile and nodded, one hand going behind the back of his head. "There you have it!" he explained with cheer he didn't feel.

"I see," the Hokage said quietly.

"Anyway," Tsunade groused, "the deal was that I show up here and listen to you for a few minutes. That's it."

The Hokage sighed, and Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "Well," the Toad Sage began, grinning, "I know _one_ way you could make some-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," she said flatly. After traveling with the woman, Kakashi would have expected more anger in her voice than he actually heard. Then again, they had been teammates at one point, hadn't they?

"You wound me!" Jiraiya protested.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she explained, "Anyway, once this is done, my debt's clear, so it's not a problem anymore."

"A...actually," Shizune offered hesitantly, "um, Tsunade-sama, that's ... just one debt collector. There are ... others..." She trailed off at Tsunade's faint, but visible embarrassed flush.

Rubbing at his temples, Sarutobi sighed, finally taking his hat off and setting it on the table.

"This is a waste of the Hokage's time," Danzo interjected from the doorway. "Koharu, Homura, and I all have _business_ with the Hokage-"

Waving a hand to forestall his longtime friend, Sarutobi overrode him. "Danzo, we will speak later. You didn't want my time before Jiraiya arrived, so I can't think it's that urgent. In the meantime, Tsunade's contract is evidently about to expire, so if it's all the same, I'll speak to my students in private.

"Kakashi, Anko, mission complete - return to your students. Shikaku, as the jounin commander, handle the debriefing and consult with Danzo and the council - I trust you to handle anything that cannot wait until we speak later. Jiraiya, Tsunade ... it's been far too long."

Kakashi nodded dutifully, he and Anko stepping out of the Hokage's office with Shizune, just ahead of an even more irate Danzo. Shikaku was the last one out, closing the door behind him. "Submit a receipt for that payment," he advised Kakashi. "No promises, but we'll see what we can do about it."

"Appreciated," Kakashi acknowledged, nodding. "I suppose there's no need for a real debriefing?"

"Mission successful, so unless you encountered something unexpected, not really. I trust your judgment," Shikaku said with a shrug. "For now, Danzo-san, you had a matter of some urgency?"

The old man set his teeth, frowning sharply. "I will wait for Sarutobi," he said flatly.

"Suit yourself," Shikaku agreed, shrugging before he fell back against the door to the Hokage's office, studying his fingernails as he leaned against the entrance.

Shaking his head, Kakashi turned down the stairs, Anko dogging his heels. "My apartment," she said. "I'll get out my good tea set - helps me calm down and think better. See if you can get Asuma and Kurenai; we can catch up on what we missed."

"Good plan," he agreed, as they reached the street. He should probably find out how Gai's handling of his students went, at some point, too. No matter what he and the other jounin suspected was going on, the genin _were_ the priority, at the moment.

* * *

Danzo waited a minute, but Shikaku seemed entirely content to remain guarding the door. There was also no way for him to try and eavesdrop without alerting Homura and Koharu ... and as much as they would agree with Danzo in theory, that was simply too overt.

Shizune sighed, hanging her head and sinking to crouch by the door near Shikaku, waiting for her teacher and companion to finish. He could feel the charge indicating another privacy seal being placed, and shook his head faintly.

"Would you like a chair?" Shikaku asked, turning to look at the elder ninja curiously.

"If the Hokage's business takes more than a few minutes, we will retire to the waiting room," Danzo returned. "But your consideration has been noted."

Shikaku gave a small nod before turning to the young kunoichi. "Just a guess, but your teacher might be in town for a few days to make sure that her promised payment comes through. You probably have time to book a hotel before things finish up in there."

"Ah," Shizune said aloud, popping to her feet and bowing. "Um, Tsunade-sama has an ancestral property here in town ... though it's been sealed off since she left. Probably, it's quite dusty..."

Shikaku made a sympathetic noise and cocked his head to one side in thought. "Ah," he said, nodding. "Why not find a room for tonight, and file a D-rank mission to have the estate cleaned?" he suggested.

"Oh, um, that ... that would probably be a good idea. The cost of the D-rank would be less than several nights at a hotel..." Shizune allowed. "Okay- Thank you, um, jounin-san."

"Nara Shikaku," he offered, smirking. "If she gets out before you're back, I'll tell her where you've gone."

"Okay! Thank you, Nara-san!" she said brightly, bowing again before dashing down the stairs.

Danzo bit back a sigh at that; obviously a talented kunoichi, reduced to being the servant and watcher for an alcoholic former sannin. Two perfectly good ninja wasted on the folly of one- He pressed his lips together tightly as he considered, though. Shikaku was smart, and recognized there was no point to hiding the fact that Tsunade would likely be in town for a few days.

That just begged the question of _why_.

Grimly, one reason came to him, and he raised a hand to his forehead. "Perhaps ... the waiting room would be more comfortable for the moment," he sighed, leaning on his cane when Koharu turned a curious look toward him.

* * *

It wasn't _all_ an act, but Tsunade let most of her ire fade once the door was shut, jerking her head in a nod at the ANBU. "Who's this?" she asked dully.

"Someone I trust," the Hokage answered, not changing position from where he sat, his head wearily cradled in his hands.

She nodded, then gave Jiraiya a meaningful glance.

"Oh, sure," the Toad Sage agreed, unrolling a scroll from within his robes and dropping it to the floor. He crouched and slapped a palm on it, causing the seals drawn across the surface to light up. "These things are so easy and fun to make; isn't like we just burned one out when you came in."

As tired as she was, and as uninvolved as she tried to be ... her sensei _was_ still alive, so she ignored Jiraiya's grumbling. He wasn't really pissed off about the scroll, anyway. "Myocardial infarction," she said distastefully, eyes on his chest. "This job kills everyone, Sensei."

He sighed, turning his head slightly as she moved around the desk, putting the tips of her fingers across his back, probing carefully with chakra to examine his lungs. "And, what, you're trying to hide that somehow? Well, with how subtle it was trying to bring me back, anyone with half a brain will have figured out that something happened; you're weak, and now your enemies know it. This is just going to invite someone to hurry up the job you're doing to yourself."

"Fine, thanks," the Hokage muttered, but without the edge of real annoyance in his voice. She almost wished he had that instead of the grateful tone of warmth she heard.

This long after the event, there wasn't much she could do for his heart. It didn't involve exposure to blood, at least, so she could at least do _something_. A few chakra probes into his circulatory system detected a clot of ... material working its way very slowly toward the still steadily-beating organ. That would become problematic soon ... a few weeks, maybe sooner if his heart rate were to go up.

She focused on disrupting it slowly, shaking her head. "Hell of a lot of work to drag _me_ back ... don't you have your own medics? That could look into this _without_ all of that attention?"

"I won't pretend I'm unhappy to see you again," Sarutobi groaned, as she prodded a point of tension on his back with a fine needle of chakra. Normally a debilitating attack at full strength, something that could even cause paralysis in an enemy. Here, it just relaxed the old man's muscles; his body was too weary to keep handling the stress he put it through.

"But I wasn't the one who called you back - a well-meaning but panicking jounin commander was responsible for that."

Tsunade paused, finished with the ... matter that she had broken up, following his arteries up toward his brain with her fingertips running up his back. "Well, I'm here anyway," she grumbled. "Even if this doesn't actually cover all of my debt. That's a pretty poor judgment from your jounin commander, incidentally."

"Well," Jiraiya said, shrugging, "the reason for the panic was evidently Orochimaru."

Tsunade froze. At Jiraiya's raised eyebrow, she scowled, shaking her head, and resumed her scan of the unprotesting Hokage. "Is that why you sent Mitarashi Anko after me?" she muttered. "Figured you were going to get me good and pissed at him, so I'd come back?"

"No," Sarutobi sighed. "I'm not clear on the specifics, but she and Kakashi seem to have become personally involved. I should probably give her a reprimand for overstepping her bounds on that front; as far as I know, the mission was for him alone."

Tsunade grunted wordlessly at that.

"Anyway, that seal?" Jiraiya prompted. "Before I can't trust our privacy here, ideally."

Sarutobi moved lethargically to reach toward a desk drawer, and Tsunade worked around him, finding other weak points that could be addressed. Hemorrhage in the brain, potentially; those arteries were old, could break in coming months easily. A bit of chakra helped encourage them to strengthen, though unless she repeated the treatment regularly for a few weeks, it was really just a shrug at correcting the issue. She glanced at what he'd retrieved as he unrolled it - a storage seal. Medical grade, too; reliable for transplants. Why the hell would they care about a storage seal?

She didn't get a chance to ask before he activated it, revealing a severed tongue. A fairly _carefully_ severed tongue, too. She blanched, focusing her attention on her sensei, working out and down to less severe issues, like strained muscles and stretched tendons. Even if it was clean, and there _was_ no ... unwanted matter remaining on it, she didn't want to look directly at _that_.

"Sensei, that's a... Oh, hmm, seal on the tongue, right," Jiraiya mused. "What about the fifth- No, I suppose that _would_ work, wouldn't it? There's an issue with the balance of... Far back, I guess, though. Simple, but clever. So... Alright, let's see..."

She'd done all she could for one day, and didn't want to participate in the study directly. Still, she'd already cost Jiraiya one of his privacy seals, so she stepped back. Looking for somewhere to divert her attention, her gaze went to the Hokage monument before she could stop herself, and she groaned, moving to the window, staring out with a scowl. Konoha seemed as happy and bustling as ever, to her eyes. After a few minutes, punctuated by Jiraiya muttering about the complexities of the array sealed into the ... severed tongue, the Toad Sage finished his analysis.

"The seal's not complete," he said, rustling the scroll and sealing the tongue back within it. "Someone went through a lot of work to try and keep the function hidden. Without the chakra of a living subject, the seal degrades. I can see a lot of compulsion and secrecy functions in it; considering the size of the seal, it's actually quite elegant."

"So Orochimaru has become adept at sealing?" Sarutobi asked with a sigh. "Given his other experiments, I shouldn't be surprised."

"I'm not sure," Jiraiya said after a moment of thought. "I'd need another sample of his work to compare it against, and it's not like we've got that on hand."

"Mitarashi Anko," Tsunade found herself saying, almost unwittingly. She turned around and found both the Hokage and Jiraiya looking at her, the Toad Sage with interest, and Sarutobi with a slow nod. "Orochimaru put a cursed seal on her neck."

"I'll compare them, then," Jiraiya agreed. "Does this 'Anko' have permission to share the details of that?"

"At her discretion," the Hokage confirmed. "There's one other detail - I had made a sealing array to study Mizuki's remains, to try and find some of the reasoning behind _why_ he did what he did-"

"Wait, who? What?" Jiraiya asked, raising a hand and frowning. "He's not familiar to me."

"He- Ah, Mizuki was an instructor at the Academy," the Hokage began, before hesitating, paling slightly as though belatedly realizing something.

Unbidden, the ANBU in the corner - almost having faded from Tsunade's mind - offered, "Mizuki attempted to steal a forbidden scroll containing the sealing information for the Kyuubi, and also attempted to kill its container."

Tsunade had only rarely seen Jiraiya more than annoyed - he was generally an easy-going man, even in a hard fight. His behavior was boisterous, often disarmingly showy - but Tsunade knew him, knew how to tell when he was _really_ pissed, not just annoyed. The tightening around his eyes, the slight protruding of his jaw.

"When was this?" he asked, his voice tight, staring sharply at the old man who couldn't meet his gaze. "The ... kyuubi's container was targeted for _assassination_?"

Sarutobi bowed his head, turning to stare at the floor beside his desk. "It didn't make sense; it was too sudden - I needed to know _why_," he said, though to Tsunade's ears, even from her great sensei ... it sounded weak and defensive.

"And you believe that Orochimaru is behind it," Jiraiya said, taking a slow breath, his brow furrowed. She knew him - Sarutobi obviously could tell, too. He was still pissed, but able to be reasonable ahead of that.

"There's more," Sarutobi warned. "I had - trying to interrogate the spirit - a vision. A sharingan eye ... several of them, implanted in an arm, and one - just one - in the face."

Jiraiya stared for a long moment, his eyes tracking toward the ceiling. "I don't think we have a lot of time," he said, indicating the scroll he'd left on the floor. "I'll say this much - to the best of my knowledge, the only active sharingan eyes past the massacre are with Itachi, and Kakashi. That means that Orochimaru has to have had these for a _while_, or found Uchiha we don't know about to get them from."

"I hadn't thought of that," Sarutobi lamented, frowning.

"The seal," the ANBU volunteered, indicating the storage scroll that contained the ... sample. Tsunade shifted her shoulders, then crossed her arms before her. "ANBU itself has been compromised, though we do not know the extent of it."

"So someone in ANBU got the eyes from the bodies at the massacre and gave them to Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked dully. "That would mean that we've _been_ compromised for- That's just swell. Someone's infiltrated us that long ago, and we only now found out about it?"

Clearing his throat, the Hokage added, "But even then ... the worrying part is that the words that he used were, 'For the village.'"

"So, Orochimaru's got an entire _village_?" Jiraiya asked with an even heavier sigh, rubbing his forehead. "Great... So he's established himself somewhere I haven't heard about yet, outside of my contact's field of awareness, _and_ he's infiltrated Konoha. We don't know how deeply, but it includes an unknown number of ANBU?"

Sarutobi nodded grimly. "So ... even though I didn't mean for you two to be summoned here ... in the face of this, I need your help."

"Now I need an excuse to stay in town for a while," Jiraiya groused sourly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, we can fight him when he attacks, or we can strike at his village - assuming we can _find_ it - but if he's infiltrated, we need to take care of that first, ideally without betraying our hand." He dropped his hand to his side and nodded at Tsunade. "You up for this, Tsunade-hime?"

"I'm just here for the money," she said in automatic reply, not letting herself look at his hopeful gaze.

"I appreciate what you've done, in any case," the Hokage said, smiling more warmly than her attitude deserved.

"Well- Well, I have more debts," she muttered. "I might ... be convinced to stay a while to wipe those out ... since I came all this way anyway. I'm not interested in fighting anyone, and..." She looked away. "I'm still not ... good around blood."

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose. "Two excuses, then," he said with a smirk.

"I'll see what I can come up with," Sarutobi agreed. "And, Jiraya... Anko has the task of watching over ... certain promising genin. She might be able to relay some details to you while you're examining that seal."

"Good," Jiraiya allowed, relaxing. Tsunade felt a twinge, remembering the old days... Why was she letting herself get drawn into this again? No ... it didn't matter; it was about the money. "Yeah - okay, I'll start there."

Once she worked off her debt - a few weeks at most - she was done. That was going to be it. She didn't care about any of this; it was just a job, after all.

"Let's meet up tonight," Jiraiya prompted her, grinning - though she could tell it wasn't completely real. He was genuinely pleased to see her, but part of his mind was elsewhere. "Have a few drinks and catch up. It's really been far too long."

"You're buying," she replied, while he stooped and gathered the scroll at his feet.

* * *

"Sakura?" Shikamaru prompted, rousing her from her dazed distraction. "What is it?"

"It- It's just a coincidence," she said, shaking her head quickly. "It _has_ to be."

"You know something about Naruto," Hinata determined, staring intently at her, byakugan active. Damn, could Hyuuga tell when people were lying? "Something about that nickname."

Shino stared at her, too, his expression unreadable as Shikamaru's eyebrows rose. She was reminded uncomfortably of the bug-user's threat to drain her chakra if she didn't behave - ugh, _bugs_.

Grimacing, she said, "I'm sure it's just a coincidence ... but... Well, okay. I've read every book the yondaime wrote, alright? He's got a good writing style and makes for easy study."

"So he mentioned this nickname?" Shino surmised.

Shaking her head, Sakura explained, "I also used to do volunteer work at the library to stay after hours; I found a lot of books that were misplaced, fell behind shelves, or were just in different sections. _One_ of the yondaime's books, instead of being about strategy, or tactics, or that sort of thing, was a book of poetry."

Shikamaru looked especially unimpressed, while Shino was as unreadable as always, and Hinata looked on with confused curiosity.

Hinata and Shino didn't change their expressions, and Sakura shook her head again, turning to look at the Hokage monument. "It was kind of cheesy romance stuff, but ... he dedicated it, 'To my red hot habanero,'" she concluded lamely. Shaking her head again, even though she couldn't bring herself to look away from the monument, she said, "But it's - it's just a _coincidence_. I mean, this is _Naruto_, there's no way he could be..."

Shikamaru blinked several times, slowly turning his gaze to follow Sakura's. "Blue eyes, blond hair, absurd amounts of chakra," he said slowly. "A secret Naruto knows that he says is 'S-rank', and no one's supposed to know about..."

"But- That's hardly conclusive proof!" Sakura protested, shaking her head furiously. "I mean..." The idea that she'd been that dismissive of someone who might be descended from the yondaime? The fact that the yondaime was a legendary prodigy, and all _Naruto_ had to his name was ... pranking, and a very recently discovered tactical mindset? Sure, it _would_ explain why the Hokage had let him get away with what he did, but...

"The yondaime was a legendary threat to the other villages," Shikamaru said after a thoughtful moment, grimacing sourly.

"Ninja from other villager were ordered to flee at the sight of him," Shino added, huffing his own almost inaudible sigh. "He was called 'the Yellow Flash', and his colors meant 'fear' to enemy ninja."

"So we know who Naruto's parents are!" Hinata yelped, eyes wide. "We- We have to tell him _right away_!"

She turned to run, grinning with excitement, and Shikamaru bit back a curse; Hinata formed a seal, but the shadow-user was faster, managing to snare her with his kagemanu-jutsu.

"...success," he muttered, sighing, as Hinata slumped, her body assuming the same pose as his.

"What- What do you think you're doing?" she protested, showing more irritation than Sakura had ever seen from the typically meek kunoichi.

"We need to be rational about this," he warned, frowning intently. "Look- We just said Naruto _knows_ an S-rank secret that's not supposed to get out. So he already knows _something_, even if they only told him part of it - which would make sense."

"Unfortunately, this is true," Shino continued, adjusting his dark glasses. "It's also still possible that we aren't entirely correct, and we could risk falsely raising his hopes. As has been noted, we currently lack proof."

Hinata growled, her features fixed in a scowl.

Sakura was mildly taken aback, but agreed, "That's true. If... If it _is_ true, though, and Naruto didn't know it - once he found out he'd blab it to everyone, too. And a lot of enemy villages, if they found out, would be really happy to hurt him to get back at Konoha, after everything that the yondaime did - I bet that's why Naruto doesn't already know."

Hinata's face fell. "Well, what _can_ we tell him?" she protested. "We did this entirely so we could give him some good news, didn't we?"

"The nature of his mother and her abilities do not seem to be particularly closely guarded," Shino said after a moment of thought. "He shares her name, obviously. Moreover, we know of no special abilities of the yondaime that could be expected to be passed down through blood. From Naruto's mother, there is one possibility. That information can be shared with him."

Hinata nodded slowly, as Shikamaru released the bind. "We can also tell him about his mother and be _sure_ about it," he concluded sourly. "Personally, I'd _hate_ to get Naruto's hopes up about his father and be wrong. Could you imagine how he'd be crushed by that?"

The Hyuuga's byakugan eyes widened in horror as her doujutsu faded. "Oh, oh," she fretted, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "That- That would be _terrible!_" she whimpered, hunching in on herself. "But ... his mother's okay to tell him about?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed tiredly, one hand going to his forehead, shading his eyes as Hinata's reaction clicked into place for Sakura. "Hey - why not ... find some time - the next time you get a private practice session with Naruto-kun - and give him the good news?" he suggested.

Hinata nodded, reassuming the seal she'd used before, and- When did _she_ learn shunshin?

"I didn't know she could do that," Sakura muttered, frowning.

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose as well, and he looked like he'd tasted something extraordinarily unpleasant. "That was bad," he groaned, shaking his head, sounding more agitated than Sakura had ever heard him. "That was really, _really_ bad - not planned, not calculated, way, _way_ out of scope- If she could do that it was only _lucky_ I caught her..."

"Our luck has indeed been pressed," Shino agreed, sounding subdued, even for him.

"...Naruto really _is_ the yondaime's son, isn't he?" Sakura asked quietly - though she realized it wasn't much of a question.

"Yeah, but no proof," Shikamaru grumbled, collapsing to sit on the lawn before falling backward, throwing his arms over his head across the grass. "Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?"

"Well ... if Hinata was right, for some reason Akimichi-san _wanted_ Hinata to figure this out," Sakura said slowly. "But why?"

"And how was it known that Sakura would have read the book required to make the connection?" Shino posed.

"Because he and my father are on the same team," Shikamaru returned sourly. "And even if _I_ wouldn't read a book of poetry, everyone knows Sakura volunteers at the library and reads it all. Obviously, he expected me to go behind my friend's back to dig for info on him. My father and Choza have been friends since the academy; it _means_ I thought I was being clever, and my father wanted to warn me, 'You're just a dumb kid, no matter how smart you _think_ you are.' It _means_ he was saying, 'You should trust your teammate, and not dig around.' It _means_ ... that I fucked up and didn't do the right thing. So if it's all the same, I'm just going to lie here and feel like a shitty friend for a while. Naruto-kun deserved better than that, didn't he?"

Sakura blinked slowly, as one of Shikamaru's arms went across his eyes. That certainly was _not_ what she'd expected... She'd _threatened_ Shikamaru and Shino - and Hinata - with the fact that they were up to something behind Naruto's back, but it was only then that it had really sunk in.

...it was still early. Unless something had changed, Naruto had clones in the library. Even though it wasn't her hobby, she stared up at the clouds, thinking. Should she treat Naruto nicer, now that she knew?

No ... not too much. That would give it away. And maybe the blond boy _wouldn't_ pick up on it, but if she treated him differently, wouldn't she be doing a poor job of _keeping_ that S-rank secret? Didn't that mean the best course of action was to continue as she had been? But then ... giving him a negative reputation like the village had, to better hide him...

She was unpleasantly reminded of how well she knew what it was like to get by without friends. She'd _started_ warming up to him; he _was_ proving himself, after all. She just needed to continue on that path, right? And, anyway, while Hinata was going to give him the news about his mother, maybe - just _maybe_ - she could throw a book on fuinjutsu at Naruto and see what he made of it.

Yeah, that would help the entire team, anyway, wouldn't it? With his clones, if he figured out the basics, he could be churning out enough storage seals and exploding tags for all of them easily!

"I have to get to the library," she said, breaking into a run toward Konoha without waiting for a reply from either of the boys.

* * *

Asuma kept his expression carefully schooled from his perch on the branch, hidden within Kurenai's veil. They'd had to move a number of times to stay out of Hinata's byakugan, but he was able to use a subtle wind-natured chakra technique to bring the voices into their own earshot anyway.

Neither of them said anything, just digesting the genin's' speculation. Sakura left swiftly enough, not lingering that long after Hinata had shunshined away. When it was just Shikamaru and Shino, the Aburame boy turned to his companion, sinking to sit nearby.

"Questions remain unanswered," he remarked. "There have been rare but observable instances of resentment among the villagers toward Naruto-kun, which is not consistent with the expected behavior toward the yondaime's heir."

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed quietly, arm still over his eyes. His voice was only barely carried across the wind.

"Such responses surpass what could be expected over an illegitimate child."

Asuma resisted the urge to snort; an heir to a bloodline was an heir to a bloodline, legitimacy be damned. Plenty of 'bastard' children had come about in the ninja world, to try and preserve kekkai genkai.

"There really is more than one big secret on him," Shikamaru sighed.

"What is the best course of action?"

"Damn it, Shino-kun... What does it matter?" Shikamaru asked bitterly. "I meant what I said - we shouldn't have dug. Yeah, I _know_ there's something else, but all we have right now is the fact that we know something we have _no_ business being aware of. Good for us! We're supposed to be a tight team? Trust one-another? Before the whole mess of 'let's stick the rookie nine together,' it was Shino-kun, Naruto-kun, and that lazy ass - the genin dream-team who'd gotten their hands dirty and _stuck out_.

"Then Naruto-kun sticks out a bit more, even to us, and what do we do? We _screw it up_. Bad enough Sakura found out, it's worse that my _dad_ figured it out. So - it doesn't matter. I'm done digging. Naruto-kun deserved our trust, and for me, at least, from now on he's _getting_ it. If he's got something else to tell us ... he'll tell us.

"Because right now, all we have to tell him is that we know something that we can't explain without admitting _we didn't trust him_. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel like an ass.

"And I don't know how to make it up to him."

Shino's head shifted slightly at that. "A stinging remark," he said softly. Adjusting his dark glasses, his head turned toward the Hokage monument. "We have become tangled in our own web. I agree with you, Shikamaru-kun."

"...thanks," Shikamaru sighed. "Alright; my dad knew what was going on. I think the other message there is that I'm not done taking lessons from him. I'm going to train with him for the rest of the day."

Shino nodded solemnly, watching without comment as Shikamaru hopped to his feet and began the trudge back to his home, shoulders slumped.

Once the Aburame boy followed, Kurenai dropped the veil.

"I ... had no idea," she said softly.

Sighing, Asuma produced and lit the cigarette he couldn't let himself have while they were hiding. "I didn't, either," he allowed. "I knew about Naruto's _other_ secret ... not a very well kept one, honestly."

"Yes," she mused quietly, frowning.

Asuma cocked his head to one side. "Even a lot of chunin and some civilians that really shouldn't know it..."

Voicing the questions that were only just occurring to him, Kurenai asked, "But ... his _own child_?"

"I don't want to get into it," he sighed. "I'm not exactly close with the boy, and I didn't know his parents well ... but let's just say my father's handling of things was one of the reasons I left Konoha for a few years."

She pursed her lips as she studied him. "What exactly does that mean?" she asked.

"Let's leave that piece of the past in the past," he muttered with a shake of his head. "We have a chance to do things differently, and perhaps better from now on. Right now, Naruto is one of our students - one of nine. Without letting this bias us, but doing the best we can with this information..." He shrugged, looking at her expectantly.

"My lessons moving forward will be about the nature of trust, and its importance, I think," she decided.

"After that, it's going to hit some of those kids like a ton of earth chakra," Asuma rumbled, drawing deeply on his smoking brand. "I'll touch on the subject a bit myself; Kakashi's probably got less room for it."

"We should be moving them onto D-ranks, anyway. Speaking of Kakashi, shouldn't he be back soon?"

"Yeah," Asuma agreed, frowning at a small chakra-heavy form that dashed through the forest, seeming to sniff at the trail of cigarette smoke. Was that... It had to be a summon - a small dog with a hitai-ate? Realization set in, as the small figure bounded toward their tree, and he would have smirked, if the mood weren't so heavy. "Well, well ... look who's on time for once."

"I think 'on time' would have caught that conversation," she disagreed quietly. "But let's meet up with him anyway."

* * *

It didn't take Jiraiya too long to track Anko down to her apartment. He'd interrupted a tea ceremony, evidently, which she seemed to be conducting for a trio of other jounin (he recognized Kakashi, at least) with some skill, so he'd apologized and asked to have an appointment with her later. She'd agreed, making some offhand comment about 'meeting all three of the sannin.' He'd liked her more in the outfit she was wearing when she'd followed Tsunade to the tower, but she didn't look half bad in the demure kimono, either.

Kakashi seemed to have pretty good taste. A marker he wasn't going to give Orochimaru, even if he had tagged the kunoichi with a curse seal of some sort - but there was time to investigate that in the morning. Just as importantly, he could find out more about his godson.

In the meantime, he was still pretty pissed about his sensei not thinking it was worth telling him that someone had gotten close enough to killing Naruto that a chunin instructor died in his place. That made him want to punch someone, but if the Hokage were right about it being Orochimaru's meddling...

Then again, maybe it wasn't the snake's plan; he could have intended something else, and just accidentally driven his servant crazy or stupid with his experiments. Honestly, it wouldn't have been the first time.

Without any better approaches, he found a cheap dive that he judged unlikely to be overflowing with ANBU or gorgeous women. Pretty ladies were a great distraction, but it wasn't the time for that. Technically, he should be coming up with a good excuse for being in town, _too_, but there was just too much going on all at once to do much more than he had without a few bottles of sake for fortification.

This was the kind of place for that; almost all booths with curtains that could be closed to allow for privacy. Jiraiya didn't really care what anyone else might be doing behind their curtains at the moment, just that he could have one of his own.

He was only halfway through the second bottle before Tsunade found him. He'd expected it to take longer, really.

She slid onto the bench on the opposite side of the booth from him, taking the bottle he hadn't finished and draining it in one long pull. "Started earlier than I expected," she said coolly, slamming the empty bottle to the table without breaking it.

"Yeah, got a lot on my mind," he agreed. He waved to the server, a tired looking man of middle years. "Four more bottles, and one more glass," he said, before twitching the curtain across the booth.

"You can do that privacy trick even here?" she wondered.

"Eh, better," he said, biting his thumb absently. She looked away with a disgusted scowl, her face paling slightly. Oh ... he'd forgotten about that.

Shaking his head, he jammed his thumb against the bench at his side, muttering the jutsu under his breath and summoning one of the smaller toads he frequently worked with. The small creature hopped up onto the table, almost looking deceptively 'cute' in its small coat and white headband. "What's up, boss-guy?" he croaked at Jiraiya curiously.

The Toad Sage made a gesture, and the diminutive creature changed color, smoothly blending in with the wood as the server shouldered the curtain aside to place four fresh sake bottles on the table, and a glass before Tsunade. She nodded absently at him as he pulled back from the curtain, and Jiraiya reclosed it before sliding one of the bottles to the toad.

"Okay!" the creature chirped softly, reassuming its regular coloring again. "You want the 'especially happy lady' sound genjutsu?"

"Eh, nah," he said, not meeting Tsunade's eyes when she looked at him suspiciously. "Just make it sound like we're not talking about anything important and give a heads up if anyone tries to come inside the genjutsu to overhear us."

"Got it, boss-guy!" the diminutive toad agreed, chugging the entire bottle in almost no time - and seemingly without effect. Tsunade looked dubiously impressed, and no wonder; the bottle was almost as large as the toad.

"So, what, you use him to make it sound like you're seducing - or being seduced?" she asked with a sour grimace, eying the toad doubtfully.

"Sometimes it's actually going on," he said, a bit defensively. Before that could start a conversation that wouldn't go anywhere, he changed the subject: "Anyway - did you come up with an excuse?"

"Yeah, working off my debt going over some of the medic-nin at the hospital," she groused. "Shoring up their mistakes, _maybe_ saving some lives. Pointless as that is... You still need to figure out why _you're_ here, though."

He nodded absently, pouring sake to fill both of their cups. He wasn't in a mood to try and cheer her up at the moment, as much as he genuinely _did_ appreciate her company.

"What's up with you?" she prompted, sipping at her sake slowly while he threw his back without hesitation.

"What do you mean?" he asked, staring at the empty cup before him.

"I _mean_," she said, taking the bottle and refilling his cup halfway, "that Sensei seems to have pissed you off somehow. What's so important about the Kyuubi's container, anyway?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Tsunade-hime," he said slowly, frowning. "You could probably guess it, if you tried. You have most of the pieces, anyway. Haven't met the kid, but you'd get it in a snap."

"Some bullshit village secret?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, something like that," he agreed. "But you've stepped away from the village."

"I'm not about to start selling secrets that'll just cause more people to get killed," she said flatly, frowning intently.

He couldn't help but let one corner of his mouth quirk up in a half-smile. "Alright," he sighed. "The Kyuubi's container is the yondaime's kid. My godson."

Tsunade blinked a few times, then shook her head slowly and topped off his sake cup before filling her own. "I think I'd be pretty furious if someone came after Shizune," she said quietly. "She's all _I've_ got ... so I guess I can see that."

"Yeah, well... I haven't exactly been doing a stellar job of watching over the kid - I try and draw fire away from him, trust Sensei to watch over him since I can't afford to spend that much time in the village, right?" he muttered, sipping from his own cup, then shaking his head.

"So, you ... you're going to become the next Hokage, then?" she asked dully, her eyes dimming.

He blinked. "Where the hell did you get that idea?" he asked belatedly.

She rolled her eyes. "Who better?" she returned, shrugging. "I'm serious - Sensei's got a year or two, maybe three or four _tops_ if he keeps pushing himself like this. He could have up to maybe _ten_ if he retires, lets someone else take the mantle. I'm working my debt off; I'll do what I can.

"Best I honestly expect is that he'll be relatively healthy right up until the end - and that's if we're lucky and he doesn't have to do any actual ninja work - no attacks, no other villages that get impatient and decide to speed things up by a few lousy months. He gets in two, maybe three serious fights? He presses himself too hard trying to train someone in one of those techniques not many other people know while keeping up the schedule of a kage?"

Her hand moved in a slow horizontal slash, cutting through the last of his remaining ire at the old man with it.

"That's it," she concluded. "Aside from that, like I said, we can try and hide it, but I got dragged back - people are going to ask questions. Some people might buy the excuse, but _you're_ here, too. That's not so great, but he's dropping the _ball_.

"He wasn't with it enough to make the requests to pull us back in - or stop them once they got out. He evidently hasn't been able to give the attention to the yondaime's kid _and_ run the village- And from what I hear, Orochi got his minions into the village right under Sensei's nose. It's a death sentence, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone - but I'm not sure he's the best choice for Konoha anymore. And if it's _killing_ him anyway..."

Jiraiya could only stare dumbly, falling back to lean against the booth's wall. After a minute of Tsunade staring, one eyebrow raised in challenge until she broke off to quaff her sake, he experimented with some of the nastier curses he knew.

"That better be about what I said, and not me," she warned, mid-tirade.

He trailed off and grit his teeth. "No, you're right," he said sourly. "Except it's treason to try and _do_ anything about it, and I respect Sensei too much."

"Too much to save his life by pressuring him to retire?" she asked archly. She hesitated, her voice hitching as her gaze went to one side, looking at the small toad providing the genjutsu that gave them privacy. "T...tell him you'll follow his lead - take his place and shoulder that burden." She finished in a mumble.

"Tsunade-hime ... I can't," he groaned. "I've got- I've got a spy network, and I couldn't just hand it off to anyone. There's some serious S-rank stupidity I can't let just anyone in on - it'd take ... six months, maybe a year and a half to get someone to handle what I've got in place right now. I'm running a huge risk as it is, just planning to stay here and try to get a handle on things. And anyway, who could do what I'm trying to handle? From the profiles, _maybe_ Hatake Kakashi-"

"Well, who _else_ could take over for Sensei?" she countered. "If you won't take the hat..."

"The... The current jounin commander," he offered lamely. "He's really sharp."

"Tactically, a legend," she agreed. "Why not just send messengers to the other villages saying, 'Hey, we're preparing for a war, and putting the best man for the job in the position to manage it.'"

"Still kept up on your politics, I see," he jibed reflexively.

"I've been on the road," she grumbled, shifting her shoulders, sliding the nearly empty sake bottle toward the toad and opening another one. "I hear a lot, even if I don't have spies anywhere."

"...I can think of one person who might be good for the hat," Jiraiya realized.

"What, Danzo?" she asked scornfully. "He's just as old as Sensei, whatever his ambition. He might last a year or two longer, but-" She cut off, looking at him sharply, her gaze hardening. "What are..."

"Tsunade-hime," he said, shaking his head, "think about it, huh? You can see everything that's going on - stuff I missed because my attention was elsewhere. Hey - we were great, on a team! And- It'd be behind a desk; you wouldn't have to deal with-"

"Not happening," she said stonily, glaring. "Or are you forgetting the third member _of_ our team?"

"Yeah, I totally forgot about the missing nin who ended up throwing an assassination attempt at my godson," he retorted, leaning forward. "But if you do it - let _me_ focus on that bastard-"

"I'm not coming back to Konoha!" she snapped.

He paused, considering the mild fuzziness he'd inflicted on himself already. With a hand-sign and some focus, he cleared his mind of the sake's influence. She eyed him suspiciously, finishing another cup of the stuff. "Tsunade-hime, you came here for money, but you're _staying_ because of Sensei."

She flushed and scowled, but said nothing.

Leaning back slightly, he sighed. "Give it some time; you'll be here for a while, so ... think about it, huh?"

"The job is a death trap," she said flatly.

"So I should step into it next?" he asked, smirking faintly. "I'd hoped you liked me better!"

Her flush deepened and she threw back another cup of sake, finishing off the third of the four bottles. "That's not it," she grumbled. "When my debt's gone, so am I."

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and thinking. There _was_ still time, but... It really was astounding enough that she'd come back at all; he couldn't push too hard yet.

"Alright - forget that for the moment," he agreed. "You're here to kick some medic-nin in shape and do what you can for Sensei."

"That's right," she agreed firmly, still eying him suspiciously.

"So - help me out, huh?" he prompted, pleading.

Her eyes narrowed. "How do you mean?"

"I can't reveal who my godson is just yet - not directly. But he's a genin, should be doing some starter D-ranks," he explained. And not only that, from everything Jiraiya had heard about him in recently years, he gleefully told everyone in earshot that he was someday going to become the next Hokage. "If you run into him by chance ... well, the kid's an orphan. _I_ haven't been there for him, and he's a _kid_. We both know that Sensei tries, but like you said, he can't do it all, right?

"If word got out that I was talking to him, or he spilled it if I let him know... I just thought that thanks to Sensei, he'd be _safer_. That I was making the right choice by leaving him with Sensei and trying to distract the enemies of the kid's father, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that," she agreed. "Yondaime had a lot of enemies."

The toad on the table shifted slightly, croaking a quiet warning in the frog language. He knew enough to pick out the really important details from the description, and bit back a grin; the genjutsu continued, even if one extra person was inside the bubble it produced, and still outside of the curtain. "Right - but _you_..." He shrugged. "Kid's named Naruto - looks just like his dad. So, as a favor to me..."

"Fine," she said grudgingly. "_If_ I happen to run into Naruto on some random D-rank around town, I'll try and give him some consideration," she allowed. "But don't even _think_ of pulling strings to get him sent to the hospital specifically while I'm working there!"

"Because I'm going to try and get my godson sent to the hospital?" he retorted, grinning. "But, fine - holding you to it," he added, before sitting up sharply, feigning surprise. "Oh-" He waved at the toad with one hand, dismissing it; it hugged the mostly empty bottle of sake to itself and vanished with it in a subdued puff of chakra as Jiraiya swept the curtain back.

"Why _hello_ there, little lady!" he greeted the kunoichi who was about to knock on the back of the booth for their attention.

He let his eyes drop to Shizune's chest, and then lower, to her legs. Not bad, actually. Not bad at _all_, if she weren't actually a bit young for him.

"If you're looking for a legendary sannin, there's two right here!" he exclaimed. "Ah, but you look tense - how'd you like to join us for this last bottle of sake? I'd be happy to give you a back rub!"

"I- Um, n-no thank you," Shizune stuttered, blushing.

He leaned closer, waggling his eyebrows as he leered - the view really _was_ quite fine! "Front rub?" he offered, before Tsunade twitched, flinging the final sake bottle at his head with blinding speed- He barely pulled back far enough to dodge the projectile, moving his face right into the Slug sannin's backhanded slap as the vessel shattered against the booth wall.

"Perverted idiot," Tsunade groused, unable to hide the tiniest trace of affection from her voice. "We're done here."

"H-hey!" the server protested, scowling at the damaged wooden barrier, now punctured with irregular shards.

"Put the damages on my tab," Jiraiya said reassuringly, rubbing his stinging cheek with an intoxicated hitch in his voice. "It's worth it to see a pair of luscious twins like this!"

Shizune blinked in astonishment, biting her lower lip as she looked between the two sannin. "U...um, Tsunade-sama, I've gotten a room for us," she said, a calculating glint lighting in her eyes. "Um, t-tomorrow morning ... we can move into your ancestral home. I've arranged for it to be cleaned and dusted, but thought you might want to oversee it, just in case."

"Yeah, fine," Tsunade agreed absently, climbing out of the booth and giving Jiraiya a dismissive wave.

* * *

Training with the other genin was fun - in fact, he was starting to think of them as friends again. Even Sasuke was still good to practice with, though Naruto wasn't sure what brought about his sudden change of heart. Somehow, having the normally jerkish genin treating him like someone he wanted to _learn_ from, even if it was for something in exchange...

Actually, that seemed fine to Naruto. He liked training with Hinata more; the idea of Sasuke showing up and making breakfast just seemed absurd.

But Sasuke was actually a little better at explaining techniques than Hinata was ... or else Sasuke was just teaching easier techniques. Throwing stuff and guiding it by wire wasn't quite shunshin, after all. He was worried about wearing his equipment out, but realized he could save a lot of trouble by _only_ having his bunshin throw.

Sasuke was actually surprised by it at first, but then it didn't matter if a kunai or star was lost in the trees around the Uchiha compound - it would just puff into chakra anyway. Sasuke grudgingly acknowledged it would also save Naruto time spooling wire - so he got a _lot_ more practice in then the Uchiha heir, when it was his turn to practice kawarimi.

This was the same time both boys came to realize that Naruto kind of sucked at teaching. They were both tired, though Naruto always recovered faster - not that Sasuke would let being tired slow him down. The pair of them were slumped on the lawn of the lake behind the Uchiha compound that Sasuke didn't even live in anymore.

"If you're so good at _learning_, can't you figure out how to explain thing better?" Sasuke finally growled.

Naruto's instinct was to shoot back that Sasuke should just get as good as _him_ at learning stuff. But he had a point; how was he supposed to teach tricks to Shino and Shikamaru if he couldn't even explain how it worked to Sasuke? Sasuke himself was better at explaining things than Naruto - though nowhere near as good as Sakura.

"I'll ask the new head instructor at the academy for help on teaching things to other people," Naruto agreed. After all, Shino and Shikamaru would undoubtedly tell him not to yell at the other boy - and it would be a huge pain in the ass to lose all the ground they'd made. Plus he'd be out a throwing instructor, and that was going really well.

Sasuke paused, frowning and turning to look at Naruto speculatively from where they were sitting on the bank of the lake behind the Uchiha compound - in the center of the training facility. He looked away sharply, glaring at the water. "So," he said slowly. "The ... new instructor..." He trailed off there with an awkward semi-shrug.

"No one's as good as Iruka," Naruto answered, unable to maintain the enthusiasm of just a few minutes ago at that reminder. "Uh ... so, I have a bunshin working at the academy as a teacher's assistant. He owes me that."

"Good," Sasuke bit out, his expression unreadable. Shaking his head abruptly he glanced at the position of the sun. "The others will be at Senzo's soon."

"Right," Naruto agreed.

They rose from the ground, walking side-by-side to the old man's restaurant. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who broke the silence first.

"Once you figure it out ... teach me the kage bunshin," he said flatly.

Naruto snorted. "Can't," he retorted. "Hokage made me promise not to teach anyone else. Said that it takes too much chakra, and some ninja _die_ trying to pull it off."

"So why can _you_ do it?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"'Cause..." He trailed off. Because the _kyuubi_ gave him extra chakra. Because he was cursed, but got power on the flip side of things. "'Cause I'm awesome," he said, a bit lamely. He wish he still had the confidence to just bark it out without hesitation, like Kiba ... but it wasn't _just_ him being awesome ... and anyway, if he'd been awesome _enough_, Iruka would have survived.

Sasuke snorted, shooting Naruto an unimpressed glare.

"It's an S-rank secret," the blond finally muttered, not meeting Sasuke's eyes.

"Hm," Sasuke returned. Naruto thought he was going to press the issue, but he shook his head. "Whatever. Hinata can measure how much chakra people have. If she says I have enough to not die from it, teach me anyway."

"Hey, I promised the Hokage!" the blond retorted, scowling.

"You promised him you wouldn't get your teammates killed if they didn't have enough chakra," Sasuke corrected. "If I won't die, what's the problem?"

Naruto frowned sternly. Were those the words he'd used? He couldn't _really_ remember ... but that did make sense. The old man _was_ more worried about someone dying from trying to learn it than anything else. He certainly didn't mind _Naruto_ using it.

"And what do you give me in return?" he asked, doubtfully.

"We both want to get stronger," Sasuke answered simply, giving Naruto a level stare. "You help me, and I help you. Right now, you have to catch up, first."

Naruto grit his teeth and nodded sourly. He was getting far too used to being told how much further he had to go... Well, it wasn't anything he hadn't heard from plenty of other people, too.

Even if it was from Sasuke, if the Hokage, Shikamaru, and Shino all said it, too, it was probably true.

That just meant he'd keep getting stronger.

* * *

She was so excited about the chance to tell Naruto something he'd never known that Hinata didn't even _mind_ when Ino managed to get the seat right next to him. The blonde was nattering on about sensor abilities, and explaining how Naruto was helping her get stronger every day, but seemed to _really_ be trying to impress Sasuke with her progress.

He seemed caught up in his own thoughts, just finishing his meal in silence and giving a curt nod to the other genin before leaving.

Ino pouted, but shook her head and demanded one of Naruto's bunshin to continue practicing with. Another bunshin went with Shikamaru and Shino, with the pair of them giving a significant glance to Hinata before leaving. She didn't need a reminder! A chance to give Naruto something like _that_ was a precious treasure!

It felt like it took _far_ too long to get out of Senzo's. "Ah, um, Naruto-kun," she said anxiously, once they were on the road, "um, can we go ... to your place tonight?"

"What about practicing?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. "Oh - are you tired?"

"N-no, that's not it," she said with a blush, smiling - he was so thoughtful! "Um, there's ... something I wanted to tell you!"

"Sure!" he said, shrugging, looking more excited. "Is it a surprise?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily.

"Let's race there!" he whooped, tearing off down the street at his top speed. She realized with a start that she couldn't outrun him normally ... but she _did_ know shunshin, so was able to pace him anyway, reaching his front door at the same time as he did.

"Aw, man," he chuckled, opening the door and ushering her in. "I have _got_ to learn that - oh, hey, Sakura's been helping me with math, so I might be able to get the numbers part better, now! Is that the surprise? You learned another awesome jutsu?"

"I... Um, Naruto-kun," she said, shakily, drawing a deep breath to steel herself. "Um, what ... do you know about your family?"

He started at that, frowning as he closed the door behind her and stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Nothing," he finally answered with a shrug. "Only family I ever really had were the old man and ... Iruka-sensei..." He shook his head at the dismay she showed at unintentionally reminding him of the poor teacher. "Eh, why?"

"I found- I found out about your mother!" she exclaimed. "Um, Shino-kun and Shikamaru-kun had the idea, but they thought ... you might want to know, and we wanted to surprise you!"

Naruto froze, stunned, his mouth dropping open a short distance.

"I...it was hard ... and I didn't like ... not telling you- But I _can_ tell you, now!" she said anxiously. "Um ... are you..." She hesitated. Naruto utterly freezing up was something she hadn't expected. She thought he'd be overjoyed!

"I-" he started, before coughing. "I had a mother?" he managed, staring at her in utter bewilderment. He shook his head abruptly. "I guess ... of course I had to have one... Why... Why did she..." He hesitated, eyes shining. "Why ... did she leave me behind? Is it because of..." One hand went to his stomach.

"Oh, oh, no!" Hinata exclaimed, shaking her head furiously. How could Naruto have thought it was his own fault? "Um, Naruto-kun, she ... fought the Kyuubi. I'm sorry, but ... she didn't survive. She couldn't have _meant_ to leave you! We - we only ... managed to find the certificate that explained what had happened to her..."

"Oh," Naruto coughed out, as his eyes overflowed, tears streaming down his face. "S...stupid kyuubi..."

"She must have cared about you very much!" Hinata insisted. "She tried to protect you!"

"What was she like?" he asked, sniffling.

Hinata hesitated; her training insisted that she maintain composure whenever possible. She had _also_ been taught that it was superior to ignore the lapses in composure of others. She'd never before found that training so utterly useless - so she ignored _it_ instead. She really hardly even _thought_ about it, but seeing Naruto like that...

She'd wanted to see him smile, and be happy- He was _always_ so positive! And now, she'd made him so unhappy? It was her fault; she had to do _something_ to make up for that, and so...

She wasn't sure where the confidence to do it came from, she just realized it had happened after the fact. She'd stepped closer and put her arms around him. He stiffened for the briefest, barest moment before something seemed to ... break. A deluge escaped as he began sobbing in earnest; her own eyes were streaming as she tried to remember so long ago, when her own mother had comforted her...

In the same tone of voice she could only barely remember, and with all of the warmth she could muster at the thought of her own mother, she softly explained, "Her name was Uzumaki Kushina. She was from Uzushiogakure, a village of fuinjutsu experts. She had ... she had red hair, and..."

It wasn't much, and it hadn't gone the way she had wanted... She had wanted Naruto to be so happy he hugged her on his own. She had run out of things to say far, far too soon. It had ended with the pair of them holding onto one-another, half collapsed onto his floor, arms about one-another. Not what she'd hoped for at all...

She couldn't even bring herself to focus on the clock - complex mechanisms and all - with her byakugan, if it meant looking away from him. It must have been close to an hour before he sniffled, pulling himself away and dragging an arm across his eyes. "I don't ... know what to say," he said with a mumble, eyes downcast. "I didn't ... really think that you, Shino, and Shikamaru would _do_ something like that for me. Um ... but, Hinata-chan, you really _are_ a good friend. Thank you."

"I... I'm glad you weren't upset about us ... not asking you about it first," she admitted, glad he seemed to somehow be happy about things after all.

"Nah," he said quietly, rubbing at his eyes, subdued. "I just ... never really thought about it, you know? My earliest memories were of the orphanage, and they had a different caretaker every few months, so I never really learned a lot about them and..." He shook his head. "I don't know how I can pay this back."

"N...no, no," she protested quickly. "You don't owe us anything! It, um, Shino and Shikamaru thought you might have a blood limit and just said to keep secret so we didn't get your hopes up, or anything."

He jolted slightly, looking alarmed. "Was- Was there anything like that?" he asked, looking worried.

"Um, well, that thing with 'chakra chains' I mentioned before," she answered earnestly. "I don't ... know what that means, though. Other than that, I think ... there was something about fuinjutsu?"

Naruto took a deep breath, then grinned - his normal brighter-than-sunshine smile, finally - and nodded. "I'm not sure where to start on the whole 'chain' thing, but ... you know, I _do_ know where I can find more out about fuinjutsu!"

"That's great!" Hinata agreed, surprised. "Um, where?"

"First things first," Naruto said insistently. "I've got to learn to teach other people stuff better so I can get it out of Sasuke - and anyway, I have to give you _something_ back to thank you!"

"How about a date?" she blurted out hopefully. Oh, that was improper! She should have said 'training' - not... Oh, dear...

He seemed not to notice somehow, and just nodded happily. "Sure thing, Hinata-chan!"


End file.
